Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and more than 180 other business executives took out a full-page ad in the New York Times on Monday urging companies to stand up for abortion rights.
“Equality in the workplace is one of the most important business issues of our time,” the letter reads. “When everyone is empowered to succeed, our companies, our communities, and our economy are better for it.”
“Restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence and economic stability of our employees and customers,” the letter continued. “Simply put, it goes against our values, and is bad for business.”
According to Don’t Ban Equality, the coalition responsible for the ad, it’s a response to “an alarming trend of bans passing in states across the country that restrict access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including abortion.”
Over the past several months, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Kentucky, and Mississippi have all passed “fetal heartbeat” laws that effectively ban abortion after six to eight weeks of conception. Alabama passed an all-out ban on abortion unless the mother’s health is at risk, with no exceptions for rape or incest.
The onslaught of anti-abortion laws has led to backlash from major film companies like Disney and Netflix, which have threatened to stop production in Georgia if its abortion law prevails (Prime access).
Read the full letter below: