Could abortion ban tarnish Texas' business-friendly image?

The Texas economy has fueled strong job growth and investment in recent years even as businesses in the state have increasingly found themselves embroiled in culture war issues ranging from vaccine policies to when sports teams must play the national anthem. But the politics surrounding abortion could challenge that resilience. Texas has banned most abortions in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court decision striking down the nationwide right to the procedure — the opposite position of some states from which it has been attracting steady streams of corporate relocations and new workers, such as California, Illinois and New York. In addition, a number of socially conservative Republican lawmakers in Texas have said they plan to mount efforts during next year's session of the Legislature to punish companies that help their employees obtain out-of-state abortions.

Possible measures include barring "corporations from doing business in the state of Texas if they pay for (out-of-state) elective abortions or reimburse abortion-related expenses" — as state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, and 13 other state House members outlined in a May letter to ride-hailing service Lyft — to making such companies ineligible for state contracts or publicly funded financial incentives. It's unclear if any of those efforts will gain sufficient political traction to become law or withstand legal challenges if they do so. But the state's anti-abortion stance already has put it at odds with many private-sector employers. Dozens of corporations nationwide have announced they back abortion rights and intend to support workers who want to obtain the procedure. Austin-based companies that have done so include electric automaker Tesla, job search firm Indeed.com and dating app company Bumble. Others with big operations statewide include Facebook parent Meta and Dallas-based AT&T, as well as Lyft and fellow ride-hailing service Uber. "We are committed to supporting our employees in their own decisions about their health," Indeed said in a written statement. "Not only will employees be reimbursed for travel expenses for covered medical procedures that are unavailable where they live, but we are also covering their dependents."