WASHINGTON, DC - DECEMBER 01: Abortion rights advocates and anti-abortion protesters demonstrate in front of the Supreme Court of the United States Supreme Court of the United States on Wednesday, Dec. 1, 2021 in Washington, DC. The Justices will weigh whether to uphold a Mississippi law that bans abortion after 15 weeks and overrule the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. (Kent Nishimura / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Washington Post columnist Catherine Rampell wrote an opinion piece Monday supporting American corporations’ fight against pro-life laws, describing these companies as the "last firewall against the GOP’s assault on women’s rights" and praising them for actions that "respect women’s constitutional rights to reproductive autonomy."
Rampell began her piece, saying, "With the Supreme Court expected to decide soon on Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban, a growing number of red states are severely restricting access to reproductive care."
Talking about Texas specifically, she claimed: "Women — and, in some cases, sexually abused children — are forced to carry unwanted pregnancies to term or leave the state to seek reproductive care."
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As the number of abortion bans mount, "Women’s rights activists have lately found a somewhat unlikely ally in the fight against these laws: corporate America," the columnist declared.
Lyft offered to pay legal costs for any drivers sued under Texas state law. (iStock )
"Citigroup, Yelp, Apple, Levi Strauss, Bumble, Match Group and others have also recently expanded employee health coverage of reproductive care, including covering travel expenses for out-of-state abortion care," she explained.
Rampell mentioned how some companies have "offered to relocate employees and their families to states that respect women’s constitutional rights to reproductive autonomy."
"Uber and Lyft announced they will pay legal costs for any drivers sued under Texas’s bounty-hunting provisions," she wrote.
The columnist then slammed GOP for alleged hypocrisy, "The GOP reaction to such corporate actions is not, alas, respect for the free market. Republicans are no longer preaching reverence for limited government or business leaders’ rights to make their own decisions about employee benefits or investments."
"Instead, the GOP response has been driven by vengeance and efforts to exert control — arguably much like the abortion bans themselves," she concluded.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (Screenshot/Twitter/@GovRonDeSantis)
"In today’s Republican Party, the primary economic goal of the state is no longer to let free markets determine winners and losers; it is to use government to reward friends and punish political enemies," Rampell wrote.
She then added that the party’s actions are "Orwellian" in this context. "In a somewhat Orwellian twist, Republicans sometimes pretend that such punitive, Big Government measures are really motivated by their desire to preserve the free market. They are only punishing firms, they say, for putting ‘woke’ ideology ahead of corporate profits."
She criticized the GOP for this, asserting that companies don’t support abortion because they’re woke, but "because they believe doing so will help their bottom lines."
Rampell claimed, "Sure, some of these red states have drawn a lot of new workers (and businesses) in recent years. After all, low taxes and warm weather are pretty attractive. But such perks can lose their appeal if the trade-off is loss of bodily autonomy. Companies must prove to employees and prospective hires — at least those with the education and skills to command greater bargaining power — that their rights will be respected, and their families will have access to the health care they need."
"Abortion advocates are finally saying what they really believe – that abortion is good for CEOs’ profit margins," Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser told Fox News Digital. "This is exploitation, not empowerment. No woman in America should be forced to choose between her career and the lives of her children. Forward-thinking companies offer the support working moms deserve to succeed, not assistance killing her babies."
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