A group of pro-abortion Amazon employees wrote to corporate leadership on Monday demanding that the company withdraw business from pro-life states in the wake of Roe v. Wade’s fall, according to a letter obtained by the exposé Twitter account Libs of TikTok.
The notice listed nine employee exhortations, the most drastic of which told company executives to "cease operations in states that enact laws that threaten the lives and liberty of abortion seekers, either by denying healthcare in life-threatening circumstances or by criminalizing abortion seekers and providers." Such a decision would shut down more than 100 Amazon fulfillment centers, software development centers, and customer service centers, slashing billions in revenue and more than 150,000 jobs.
Other demands include publicly denouncing the abortion ruling, giving time off for employees to "grieve," organizing company protests, and removing products on the site that "encourage hate speech or violence toward abortion seekers."
"Given the attacks on our democracy, and the continued deterioration of our rights, we believe the time to act is now," the letter reads.
Amazon employees are not alone in risking their jobs for social justice. Just two weeks ago, SpaceX employees distributed an open letter calling Elon Musk’s public behavior a "source of distraction and embarrassment" for the company after Musk announced his intention to vote Republican and endorsed Rep. Mayra Flores (R., Texas). The SpaceX employees involved were terminated.
Amazon officials have yet to release a statement regarding the letter or the Roe v. Wade ruling. The company's executive chairman, Jeff Bezos, may be loathe to wade into a controversy that would severely disrupt business. In May, Bezos got into a spat with the White House after President Joe Biden suggested raising corporate taxes in order to tame record-high inflation.