Live data from Hacker News

Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

theguardian.com

11–20 of 50 posts

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#11
post #6

What do we do about this new dynamic of social corporatism? Do we not follow laws anymore and allow corporations to dictate social justice? (Nothing to do about this specific law but corporations are increasingly taking issues, which should be left to the public voters, in their own hands… do we get to vote for CEOs?)

I don't see how any laws are being violated here. if Salesforce was somehow encouraging their employees to ignore Texas laws, then thats another thing. But that's not the case here.

Even if laws are being violated, civil disobedience is a valid response to unjust laws. I don't think there is anything wrong, or incompatible with western democracy about companies taking a principled stand against unjust laws, as a person would.

The only problem comes when a special interest hijacks a company's notion of what kind of activism is reasonable.

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#14

Sounds like a publicity stunt, Salesforce knowing there will be zero uptake of course. The few female employees Salesforce has in Texas are probably of the educated type who aren't having unplanned pregnancies.

>The few female employees Salesforce has in Texas are probably of the educated type who aren't having unplanned pregnancies.

What?

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#16

Sounds like a publicity stunt, Salesforce knowing there will be zero uptake of course. The few female employees Salesforce has in Texas are probably of the educated type who aren't having unplanned pregnancies.

You can be held liable for aiding and abetting as well.[1] You don't have to have an unplanned pregnancy yourself to suffer from this law.

Even if you aren't impacted at all, you might not want to live in a state where this sort of law is supported.

Still probably not going to be a ton of people, but the gesture can still be appreciated.

[1]: https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB8/id/2395961#:~:text=sec.%201...

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#17

Won't this make Texas less likely to flip blue to stop these kinds of laws?

Does Texas really need to flip blue if the country transitions away from the electoral college? The arguments being made for doing so recently have quite a bit of sense when you think about it.

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#18

Sounds like a publicity stunt, Salesforce knowing there will be zero uptake of course. The few female employees Salesforce has in Texas are probably of the educated type who aren't having unplanned pregnancies.

People needing abortion services can come from all walks of life, for many reasons. Don't fall into the trap that only one "type" of person has abortions.

Remember, this awful law offers no exceptions for rape victims.

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#19

Won't this make Texas less likely to flip blue to stop these kinds of laws?

Does Texas really need to flip blue if the country transitions away from the electoral college? The arguments being made for doing so recently have quite a bit of sense when you think about it.

Good luck actually doing it.

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/fixgov/2020/12/09/how-to-get-...

Re: Salesforce offers to help staff leave Texas as abortion law takes effect

#20

Sounds like a publicity stunt, Salesforce knowing there will be zero uptake of course. The few female employees Salesforce has in Texas are probably of the educated type who aren't having unplanned pregnancies.

You can be held liable for aiding and abetting as well.[1] You don't have to have an unplanned pregnancy yourself to suffer from this law. Even if you aren't impacted at all, you might not want to live in a state where this sort of law is supported. Still probably not going to be a ton of people, but the gesture can still be appreciated. [1]: https://legiscan.com/TX/text/SB8/id/2395961#:~:text=sec.%201...

I think most people are missing the even greater impact of this bill. If it's allowed to stand, it sets a precedent of "I didn't make xyz illegal, that's unconstitutional -- I just set up a system to reward vigilante anti-xyz enforcement."

Vigilante enforcement of power structures has a long history in Texas. The Klan was really big there, esp. in East Texas. (Source: I have a lot of Texas ancestry, and we have bad stories about run-in's with the Klan, even though we are white.)

Today it's vigilantism against abortion. But the laws signed in a few weeks ago also allow sketchy intimidation tactics at the voting polls. And who knows what else they'll decide to nudge-nudge-wink-wink turn a blind eye to? Maybe you can get a reward if you report your neighbor for renting out his house to the wrong sort of person, doing an end run around fair housing laws? It's really endless.

Post reply on HN