'There aren't many companies these days willing to risk the billions of dollars in public backlash that comes with embracing the Left's agenda'
A planned economic pressure campaign by New York City comptroller Brad Lander against corporations that have not jumped quickly enough to suit him into the business of selling abortion pills is facing shocking headwinds.
From other investors in a number of major corporations.
The Washington Stand documented that Lander wrote threatening letters to multiple companies, Costco, Walmart, Kroger, Albertsons and McKesson, “extorting” them with warnings that if they didn’t start selling the dangerous abortion chemical, mifepristone, he would dump $1.3 billion in company shares.
For example, his threat to Costco was, “The Costco Board of Directors’ and management’s failure to publicly commit to Costco becoming a certified mifepristone dispenser therefore raises significant investor concerns. These concerns include the company’s responsiveness to a growing market opportunity, its mitigation of potential reputational risks, and its commitment to maximizing sales and long-term shareholder value.”
But there soon was a “counterpunch,” the report said.
That message was from companies with more than $100 billion in assets under management, including, the report said, “Inspire Investing, Guidestone, Morgan Stanley, Truist, Bowyer Research, Innovest Portfolio Solutions, Transform Retirement, Barbara Mull Investment Solutions, Pax Financial Group, Harvest Investment, Steward Guide Wealth Partners, WSI Financial Partners, Kingdom Focused Financial, Christian Wealth Management, Chandler Wealth Management, Insight Financial, 4:8 Financial, Blue Jasper Capital, Bright Portfolios, Surepath Financial Services, Sage Oak Financial, Schwallier Wealth Managers,” and more.
It was Lander who claimed, falsely, that “mifepristone’s safety is well established,” as the Stand explained that’s “a common lie that’s been debunked by countless personal testimonies, emergency room statistics, and in-depth research.”
Specifically, there’s the drug’s stunning 10% failure rate, and multiple studies, including one from Finland that found 20% of some 42,600 women who used the potentially deadly drug had serious complications.
What Lander demanded was for the companies “to immediately take the necessary steps to receive certification to dispense the medication mifepristone in states where it is legal. Following pharmacy industry leaders, and competitors, CVS and Walgreens, Costco has the opportunity to provide access to abortion medication through its pharmacies. Making mifepristone available benefits customers and employees and increases sales, while also generating long-term shareholder value. It is incumbent on the Board and management to promptly act to ensure that Costco quickly becomes certified and starts dispensing mifepristone without delay.”
Conservatives, however, have established a reputation of late for expressing their desires, too. Just ask companies like Target, Bud Light, John Deere and Tractor Supply how their forays into leftism worked out. All of those, in fact, were hit financially by their progressive ideologies.
Bud Light, long the most popular beer in America, now is down in the pack, and the collapse has cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.
Those opponents to mifepristone explained, “Maximizing shareholder value requires Costco to avoid politicizing its services and to continue to do what it has always done best, provide excellent grocery and retail goods to families. The ‘growing market opportunity’ of abortion drugs is legally and politically fraught, raises significant reputational issues, and reduces the company’s customer base, both literally and because it would drive away many existing customers.”
Robert Netzly of Inspire Investing said there is no question that Costco moving into the abortion business “would automatically risk its brand reputation.”
Financial adviser David Bahnsen pointed out that promoting chemical abortions literally snuffs out possible customers.
The Stand reported, “There aren’t many companies these days willing to risk the billions of dollars in public backlash that comes with embracing the Left’s agenda. If Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and others want to stay in Americans’ good graces, they’ll stick with serving customers, not eliminating them.”
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