14 companies who’ve backed abortion access for employees have given $140k to Louisiana politicians restricting it

After the Supreme Court’s 2022 Dobbs decision, which ended the nationwide right to an abortion, companies like AT&T, Comcast, Chevron and Deloitte quickly pledged to provide financial support for employees who could no longer access abortion care in their home states. But in Louisiana, as in other states, those companies, and others that have publicly supported abortion access, quietly funded politicians aggressively working to restrict reproductive healthcare access. Fourteen companies who have made a pledge around abortion access for their employees and their PACs have donated more than $140,000 to support Louisiana politicians who have sought to restrict abortion access since the Dobbs decision, including 29 Louisiana state legislators and the governor. Eleven thousand dollars of that total has gone to support the state Republican party. The state party directly transferred $4 million to Governor Jeff Landry’s 2023 campaign, which was over a third of the money he raised in 2023.

Louisiana stands at the forefront of rolling back reproductive rights, with extreme abortion laws creating what some have described as a dystopian reality. Following the enactment of the state’s 2006 trigger ban—designed to take immediate effect upon the overturning of Roe v. Wade—abortion is now functionally banned. Exceptions to these laws are extremely rare and the consequences for providers are severe, with penalties including up to 15 years in prison. These laws created a chilling effect across the state. Many healthcare providers have essentially been forced to perform medically unnecessary and risky procedures, including C-sections, rather than abortions, in an effort to avoid criminal liability. Traveling out of state for an abortion is burdensome, and that doesn’t account for additional expenses like childcare, lost wages or the logistical hurdles of arranging time away from home. It was in this hostile atmosphere for reproductive rights that companies like Deloitte, CVS, UnitedHealth Group, AT&T and others who committed to supporting their employees’ ability to access abortion turned about and funded the very Louisiana politicians pledging to further limit access to reproductive healthcare. 

Since 2022, Louisiana upped its attacks on reproductive rights in 2024 with SB 276, a first-of-its-kind law that labels mifepristone and misoprostol—two drugs that have long been the standard of care for both medication abortion and miscarriage management—as controlled dangerous substances, on the level of  tramadol, diazepam and other drugs with the potential for abuse. By enacting this law, which went into effect on October 1, 2024, in addition to a near-total ban on abortion care, Louisiana lawmakers are creating insurmountable and even life-threatening barriers to essential healthcare.

One of the officials who led the charge on SB 276 is Senator Mark T. Abraham, who cosponsored the bill and has a 100% “pro-life” voting record, supporting every piece of legislation related to restricting abortion access. Abraham received $5,000 in political contributions from Deloitte, AT&T, T-Mobile, Comcast, Eli Lilly and others in 2023. Deloitte previously pledged to provide financial support for employees to travel to obtain abortions if needed, and Eli Lilly spoke out forcefully about Indiana’s abortion law in 2022, noting that it would hinder hiring in the state where it is based. Louisiana Senate President Cameron Henry, a long-time advocate for banning abortion access, has received campaign donations totalling $16,750 from CVS Pharmacy,  Zillow, UnitedHealth Group, Inc., Pfizer, AT&T and others. Senator Jeremy Stine, another supporter of anti-abortion legislation, received $4,000 donations from Pfizer, Cigna, UnitedHealth Group and AT&T.

Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry’s gubernatorial campaign brought in over a third of its 2023 haul in the form of transfers from the state Republican party, to the tune of $4 million. The state party in turn had received more than $11,000 from companies like AT&T and Comcast that had previously pledged to support their employees’ access to abortion. AT&T also gave an additional $2,500 directly to Landry’s campaign. But in summer 2023, while Landry was state attorney general and running for governor, he signed a letter to the federal government arguing for state access to information about residents seeking abortions or gender-affirming care in other states—the exact same legally permitted activity that these companies pledged to support and fund for their employees. 

While these numbers may seem small compared to the kinds of contributions seen at the federal level, where campaigns routinely spend tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, state elections are much cheaper. For example, Senate President Henry’s campaign spent only a little over $105,000 in the 2023 election year. Meanwhile, Governor Landry’s campaign topped out at just $885,000.