Welcome to Popular Information, a newsletter dedicated to accountability journalism. Your favorite brands are funding anti-abortion legal campaignsBig-name companies are donating to a powerful political group using the legal system to expand abortion restrictions nationwide.Since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022, ending the federal right to an abortion, Republicans have been working tirelessly to restrict abortion access across the states. Leading these efforts is the Republican Attorneys General Association (RAGA). In a fundraising email sent the day Roe was overturned, RAGA pledged: "Every donation will help Republican Attorneys General combat the Democrats' pro-abortion agenda and stand tall for life." A 70-page financial disclosure document filed with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on August 8 reveals that RAGA's largest contributors include major American corporations. The money has been used to assist members of RAGA as they aggressively seek to limit abortion not only in their states, but across the nation. On July 29, 16 Republican attorneys general sent a letter encouraging Congress to override state “shield laws,” which nearly two dozen blue states have enacted to protect reproductive healthcare providers and patients from being targeted by authorities in other states where abortion is banned. The shield laws generally prohibit officials from cooperating with investigations and prosecutions by anti-abortion states. That means the states will not honor extradition requests, search warrants, or subpoenas. Some states’ shield laws extend these protections regardless of the patient’s location, including telehealth services. RAGA members are asking Congress to preempt these shield laws and compel blue states to help them prosecute reproductive healthcare providers. Two of the attorneys general who signed the letter, Ken Paxton of Texas and Liz Murrill of Louisiana, have sued a New York doctor for prescribing medication for abortion to residents of their states. Similar efforts have been pursued by RAGA members for several years. On January 13, 2023, 22 RAGA members sent a letter to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner at the time demanding that the FDA impose more restrictions on access to mifepristone, a medication that is commonly used for abortions. On February 1, 2023, 20 RAGA members sent letters to pharmacies in their states, such as Walgreens, threatening legal action if the pharmacies distributed abortion medication. The RAGA members claimed that pharmacies that dispense abortion medication were violating the law, even though the FDA recently approved the practice. On February 10, 2023, 22 RAGA members filed a brief in support of a lawsuit by anti-abortion physicians to make medication abortion illegal. This lawsuit ultimately failed in June 2024, when the Supreme Court ruled that the plaintiffs had no standing to sue. But just a few months later, RAGA members filed an amended complaint, which is still pending. On September 4, 2024, Paxton filed another lawsuit against the Biden administration, attempting to overturn a new rule strengthening HIPAA protections for reproductive healthcare. In June 2025, a judge ruled in Paxton’s favor and vacated the privacy rule, allowing state governments greater access to sensitive information about reproductive healthcare for criminal investigations. The efforts of RAGA and its members to restrict abortion are backed by American corporations, including several that claim to support abortion rights. The parent company of Coachella: $100,000 to RAGAIn 2022, Popular Information and Rolling Stone reported that the Anschutz Corporation donated $75,000 to RAGA days after the Supreme Court overturned Roe. The Anschutz Corporation is a holding company that owns live music company AEG Presents, the parent company of several major music festivals, including Coachella. In response to that story, the Anschutz Corporation said in a statement that “Philip F. Anschutz believes in a woman’s right to choose and did not support the reversal of Roe.” The company claimed that “[n]o contribution to RAGA by [the Anschutz Corporation] or Mr. Anschutz has been based upon, informed by, or motivated by any RAGA position on Roe or abortion.” The Anschutz Corporation justified its donation, which was made just days after RAGA sent an anti-abortion fundraising email, by claiming that it was not aware of RAGA’s solicitation. AEG said it “remain[ed], as ever, committed to choice, freedom, and access to full reproductive health options for women.” On April 1, 2025, the Anschutz Corporation donated $100,000 to RAGA. United Healthcare, Pfizer, Cigna, and CVS: $310,000 to RAGAMultiple healthcare companies and pharmacies that previously supported reproductive rights also donated to RAGA this year. After Roe was overturned, Cigna told CBS that it was “committed to ensuring that [all employees] have access to comprehensive health care, no matter where they live.” The company stated that it was expanding its travel reimbursement policy to include abortion care in states without access. On January 30, 2025, however, Cigna donated $50,000 to RAGA. |