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Fox Business asked me to join them on-air and talk about human resources, the leaked SCOTUS decision on Roe v. Wade, and abortion. It’s a tricky topic. So I started with data. Many people engage in alternative facts about abortion, but there is good data on the subject.
Did you know that about one in every four women will have an abortion before they go into menopause? It’s a relatively common procedure. Most abortions take place around the six-week mark. Nearly half of all abortions in America are medical abortions where someone takes a pill in the privacy of their home. And the person is most likely in their 20s and already has a child.
While some individuals feel that abortion is traumatic and have regrets, longitudinal studies report that most people are relieved. The scientific term is decision rightness. Nevertheless, there is trauma, and there’s a ton of research on its origin. PTSD comes from how the individual is treated by medical professionals, family members, colleagues, friends and even protestors at a clinic.
So, I went on Fox Business and made a few points.
- Abortion is common in HR. Because 70% of people who work in HR are women, and since we have a front-row seat to the most intimate moments of people’s lives, we talk about unintended or high-risk pregnancies more than anyone realizes. And we, ourselves, have had abortions.
- Board members, executives and HR folks hate talking about abortion and do so begrudgingly. We’re here trying to help organizations solve complex business problems, but instead, SCOTUS is making us oversee 50-year-old fights over codified law..
- If you’re a big company in the global marketplace, you can hire PR firms to help you thread the needle and have this conversation. If you’re running a local plumbing company, you just want to go to work.
Finally, I said that organizations couldn’t be apolitical. Sure, they’ll try. Especially the small ones. But what happens in about a year after the SCOTUS decision is final? Your talented leaders will go on family leave to have babies. Who pays for that health care and child care? Who oversees care for depression, anxiety and postpartum depression related to having a baby you might not want? What about children born with severe and life-threatening conditions who may or may not make it? Who pays for that? Who manages that leave? And how do you write compensation policies to ensure that nobody is penalized for their absence from work?
The SCOTUS ruling is anti-business and a tax on corporations.
Of course, it’s not like Fox Business gave me ten minutes on camera to talk about all of this stuff. They ran multiple snippets of interviews over the past few days, and the producer and correspondent were happy with my contributions because I was made to talk about HR and abortion. I believe they can hear the sincere level of compassion and inclusion in my voice.
I support abortion, but I truly believe you can have deep faith — and love all the babies on the planet — and still realize this SCOTUS ruling is stupid, dangerous and bad for business.