Target: Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos
Goal: Call on Amazon’s CEO to stop the company from donating money to anti-abortion candidates.
In the wake of the repeal of abortion rights, many companies have come forward saying they would pay for their employees to travel to different states to receive reproductive care if they could no longer receive such care in the state they reside in. Amazon is among such companies. However, many of these companies, including Amazon, have provided financial backing for the political campaigns of staunchly anti-abortion candidates.
In 2021, Amazon gave $125,000 to the campaign of Virginia’s Governor Glenn Youngkin, who has been very public about his desire to ban abortions in the state after 15 weeks. The company gave $25,400 to Tennessee’s Governor Bill Lee, who signed a 6-week abortion ban triggered by the repeal of Roe v. Wade, and $23,500 to the state’s Lieutenant Governor Randy McNally. Jane Sumner, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Minnesota, does note that “in most cases, the companies’ support for the politicians is not because of the abortion issue,” but rather to remain favorable in the eyes of the politicians. Regardless of their intentions when donating, companies like Amazon are directly contributing to the loss of reproductive rights by giving money to anti-abortion candidates.
At the end of June, almost 2,000 Amazon employees had spoken out against the company’s donations through a petition, “calling on the company to immediate and decisive action against the threat to our basic human rights with the overturning of Roe v. Wade,” according to Bloomberg. Amazon met these criticisms by shutting down discussion on internal discussion boards of the company’s donations. Sign below and demand Amazon support its worker’s call to action and stop give money to anti-abortion candidates.
PETITION LETTER:
Dear Mr. Bezos,
Following the repeal of Roe v. Wade, your company was one of many which spoke up in favor of reproductive rights and offered to pay the travel expenses of your employees who now have to go to different states to receive basic medical care. However, in the lead up to the repeal of Roe, your company gave money to several anti-abortion candidates. Speaking up in favor of reproductive rights, and against the repeal of Roe while also donating significant sums of money to anti-abortion candidates is not just hypocritical. It is an actively dangerous practice which puts Amazon profits over not just the health of those who can become pregnant, but the basic human right to bodily autonomy for over 50% of the country.
Your company’s policy claims to “stand in solidarity” with “Black employees, customers, and partners” and to support “initiatives that provide better health and educational outcomes for Black people,” and yet have donated significant amounts of money to the anti-abortion representatives passing laws that will disproportionately impact Black women and others who can become pregnant. You must support your employees’ call to action and stop give money to anti-abortion candidates immediately.
Sincerely,
[Your Name Here]
Photo Credit: Fibonacci Blue
Corporations should be forbidden to donate funds to politicians.