Amazon donates to group that supports hard-line Republican anti-abortion | Republicans

Amazon, DoorDash and CVS Health are among major US companies publicly committed to supporting reproductive rights, which nevertheless contributed this year to a group supporting the re-election of Todd Rokita, the Republican attorney general of Indiana, who supports a total abortion ban.

He was too reprimanded by his state Supreme Court for criticizing a doctor who provided an abortion to a 10-year-old rape victim from Ohio.

The corporate donations, detailed in publicly available filings, were given to the Republican Attorneys General Association, or Raga, a “527 committee“ – a tax-exempt political campaign group so called by reference to the US tax code. It exists to channel nationally donated funds into key state races.

By 2024, Amazon, Doordash and CVS Health between them have donated $425,000 to Raga. And Raga has given $255,000 to Rokita, who has also participated in one suit v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission over accommodations for workers obtaining abortions; signed amicus briefs in a US Supreme Court challenge to the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone, an abortion pill; and sought access to private health records, to prosecute women seeking abortions.

Altria, AT&T and Comcast are also among major public companies publicly supporting reproductive rights while donating to Raga, which supports campaigns for Attorney General across the United States. (In 2024, Altria has given $450,000, AT&T $125,000 and Comcast $125,000.)

Donations to Republican and Democratic 527 committees have long been untracked Center for Political Accountabilitya Washington think tank, which highlighted the donations to Raga and Rokita.

In August in an introduction to a CPA reportBruce Buchanan, professor of business ethics at New York University’s Stern School of Business, said of 527 Committees: “Their power far exceeds their media presence. The American public has little awareness of their influence and even less of their funding and methods. This is unfortunate.

“… As big corporations open their checkbooks to these 527s—and especially to the Republican Attorney Generals Association (Raga)—these foundations will elect and re-elect government officials who actively promote policies that are at odds with interest groups throughout society.”

Many major US companies made public statements of support for employees in light of Dobbs v Jackson, the 2022 US Supreme Court ruling that removed the federal right to abortion, and subsequent state bans.

In May 2022, after Dobbs was leaked, Amazon told employees would pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses for non-life-threatening treatment including abortions if an operation was not available within 100 miles of an employee’s home. In 2024, with strict post-Dobbs bans in place in Republican-controlled states, including Indiana, where Rokita has advocates for for a total ban, Amazon has given Raga $150,000.

In June 2022, shortly after Dobbs, a DoorDash spokesperson said the company would cover “certain travel-related expenses” for employees who are forced to travel out of state for abortion care, adding, “It is critical that all DoorDash employees and their dependents covered by our health plans have equitable, timely access to safe health care.” This year, Doordash has paid $150,000 to Raga.

CVS Health has said so engaged to “make out-of-state abortion health services more accessible and affordable” to employees in states with abortion bans. By 2024, it has earned Raga $125,000.

The pattern of companies donating through Raga to Rokita – and other politicians at odds with stated corporate values ​​– repeats itself with regard to climate policy. Amazon, Doordash and CVS Health are also publicly committed to action to combat climate change. In Indiana, Rokita has been prominent involved in legal proceedings v. US Environmental Protection Agency and Securities and Exchange Commission on CO2 emission standards.

Neither company responded to requests for comment. Last year, in response to Guardian reporting about donations to 527 committees being used in efforts to pass a strict abortion ban in North Carolina, a spokesman for software giant Intuit outlined a corporate defense.

“Our financial support does not indicate a full endorsement of any position taken by an individual politician or organisation,” the spokesman said. “Intuit is nonpartisan and works with policymakers and leaders from both sides of the aisle to advocate for our customers. We believe that engagement with policymakers is essential to a robust democracy, and that political contribution is just one of the many ways Intuit engages on behalf of its customers, employees and the communities it serves.”

In the same report, a Bank of America spokesman said 527 committees could only use their donations for “operational and administrative purposes, not to support any candidates or ballot initiatives.” The CPA argued that given 527 committees exist to elect governors, attorneys general and other state officials, it is a distinction without a difference.

In a statement to The Guardian about donations to Raga from companies publicly committed to supporting rights that Republican attorneys general have attacked, Bruce Freed, president of the CPA and co-author of the 2024 report, said: “Today’s political environment makes it even more important that companies have policies and frameworks in place to approach, manage and evaluate risks in political spending.

“They need this to give them control over their spending and to protect themselves.”

Mike Schmul, the chairman of the Indiana Democratic Party, said his party’s candidate against Rokita, Destiny Wells, was “the only candidate in the race for AG who has received support from Hoosiers first, not special interests and out-of-state mega-donors.

“Todd Rokita is out of touch with the issues that matter, attacking women and doctors and threatening Hoosiers’ medical privacy. The choice is clear.”