Target 5.6: Universal access to reproductive rights
Ensure universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights as agreed in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development and the Beijing Platform for Action and the outcome documents of their review conferences
Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
Why shareholder democracy is helpful
Access to sexual and reproductive health is primarily set by national law and health systems. Employers' health benefits, data practices and political spending, however, affect it. Rhia Ventures reported 31 shareholder proposals on reproductive health filed for 2023 proxies. Nine concerned reproductive-health data privacy at companies such as Alphabet, Meta, CVS and Walmart. Nine concerned political donations misaligned with reproductive access at companies such as AT&T, Coca-Cola and Disney. Others were filed at hospital companies and three health insurers on abortion and contraception coverage. UNFPA's private-sector champions committed in January 2025 to workplace reproductive-health policies covering more than 300,000 employees. The champions are Amref, Bayer, Essity, Ferring and MSC. These conduct and political-spending levers are real, but they help only at the margin of a target set by national law and health systems.
How this was scoredHelpful
Helpful. Owners voting their values help. Others must carry most of it.
We have not yet written down the two answers behind this rating. Recording them on every item, so a reader can check the reasoning and not only the conclusion, is work in progress.
Every rating is the higher of two answers, one for what companies do and one for what they spend to stop the outcome, because the same vote reaches both. See the full method.
Sources
What civil society organizations are helping owners on this
Coordinated 31 shareholder proposals on access to reproductive health care for the 2023 proxy season, covering data privacy, political spending misalignment, business risk, hospital abortion policies, insurance coverage and maternal health benefits.
Filed reproductive health proposals in the 2023 season across the data privacy, political spending misalignment and business risk categories.
Filed reproductive health proposals in 2023, including a maternal health benefits proposal at Ulta Beauty.
3 campaigns on record
Report on the risks to the company from state abortion restrictions, including effects on employee hiring, retention and benefits.
With As You Sow, Arjuna Capital, The Educational Foundation of America
Result: not stated in source
Report on political spending that is misaligned with the company's stated positions on access to reproductive health care.
With As You Sow, Clean Yield Asset Management, Arjuna Capital, Tara Health Foundation, Nia Impact Capital, The Educational Foundation of America
Result: not stated in source
Address the reproductive health data privacy risks created by collecting, retaining and sharing user and customer data.
With Arjuna Capital, Change Finance, Tara Health Foundation, Presbyterian Church USA, Open MIC, As You Sow, Clean Yield Asset Management
Result: not stated in source
Related subjects on other maps
How this rating was made
Every item on every one of our maps is read against one question: how far does this depend on the people who own companies voting their values? We answer it twice, once for what companies do and once for what they spend to stop the outcome, and take whichever answer is higher, since the same vote reaches both. The score carries its reasoning and its sources so that a reader can check it rather than take it.
- Pivotal. Owners voting their values can deliver most of the outcome.
- Necessary. Owners remove an obstacle nothing else removes, and others must also act.
- Helpful. Owners voting their values help, and others carry most of it.
- Independent. This moves without owners. Other levers carry it.
The advocacy record on this page holds only what a source we opened says happened. Where we searched and found nothing, the page says so rather than leaving a silence. Where a campaign names a filer the source does not name, it says that too. Ratings are ours; the list of subjects is UN Sustainable Development Goals's, and we link to their original.
How we score dependency, in full.