Roe v. Wade was overturned last week on Friday June 24, 2022 and with that, tech companies have scrambled to make a statement about where they stand on the issue. Many companies issued statements either making clear they weren’t ready to talk about, or some circumvented the issue completely by not discussing it at all.

Apple, for example, reiterated its policy that the company’s health care plan covered travel costs for out-of-state abortion related healthcare. Microsoft said it would expand healthcare coverage to include travelling to another state for an abortion.Google went so far as to say that they would pay the relocation costs of employees, no questions asked. However, Alphabet’s Workers Union tweeted in response to Google’s statement that the move was “not a solution.”

According to Dan Bross, a former senior director of business and corporate responsibility at Microsoft there was no dearth of talent, but people wanted to work at companies whose “values and mission and policies they believe in.” 

Bross goes on to say that a way for companies to speak out is through coalitions, who co-founded Partnership for Global LGBTI Equality, which brings more than 24 companies together to advance LGBTQIA+ rights. He says that companies that speak out on their own often come under the spotlight, hence they look for collaborative opportunities. It isn’t like companies take the initiative on their own, they often look to their peers in the industry. Hence, last year when Texax announced their restrictive bans on abortion, many companies added legal or health costs for travelling out of state. This year, with Roe v. Wade being overturned, many other companies have made similar commitments. Encouragingly, these moves haven’t just from techies, but also from financial institutions, media groups and retailers.

Lobbying and Donations

Uber, AT&T and Match and Amazon have all donated to anti-abortion Republican candidates who have pushed for the overturning of Roe v. Wade, as early as last year, at least according to Popular Information. Google has found itself in the crosshairs of regulators demanding the company avoid recommending anti-abortion clinics, a call the company has staunchly ignored.  

It was only a matter of time before Silicon Valley’s footprints would outgrow the rolling hills and exorbitant real estate prices of California, Many have begun expanding to places like sun kissed Florida, scorching Texas and even North Carolina. 

Apple has started work on a campus in Austin, Texas, which will eventually be able to have 15,000 workers. Google has opened a cloud computing headquarters in Raleigh, North Carolina capable of housing 1,000 employees while Microsoft has moved down to Miami, Florida, leasing out 50,000 square feet of office space. These states also happen to be Republican-run states intent on banning abortion soon or eventually, clashing with Silicon Valley’s progressive values. 

For many in Silicon Valley, read employees at Big Tech, the moves look like stopgaps with no real meaning behind them. For how progressive the Valley is known to be, it has been slow to provide any sort of statements taking a stand for or against abortion. While tech companies have opened up to say they’re apprehensive about handing over abortion data to government authorities in states where the procedure is illegal, they’ve done little to combat it, or speak out against it. 

Bross however maintains that how companies speak out on abortion, and the other issues that come about, will be shaped by their employees and not those who sit at the top.