Non-Christian Values of Major Payment Industry Providers
Consumers are increasingly making buying decisions based on a company’s stances on social issues including abortion, LGBQ, transgenderism and the climate. Businesses have responded by enacting policies and publicly announcing their positions on these issues.
Most people do not know that many of the largest credit card processing and peer-to-peer payment companies support abortion as part of their corporate policies and benefits. According to Reuters and CBS, PayPal, owner of Venmo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, and Wells Fargo, the owners of Zelle, offer abortion travel benefits to U.S. workers.[i][ii] Blackbaud.com, supports abortion access and offers gender-affirming benefits. Block, the owner of Square, CashApp, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD covers voluntary abortions and short-term disability for gender-affirming surgeries.
PayPal, owner of Venmo – Abortion
PayPal, the owner of Venmo, “is a signatory to the Women’s Empowerment Principles and the private sector lead for the U.N. Women’s Generation Equality Forum’s Economic Justice and Rights Action Coalition,”[iii] which supports the removal of restrictive policies and legal barriers, ensuring 50 million more adolescent girls and women in all their diversity live in jurisdictions where they can access safe and legal abortion by 2026” and safe abortion and post-abortion care and services, without requiring third-party consent.”[iv]
Blackbaud.com – Abortion and Transgenderism
Blackbaud.com, another payment giant marries its policies to the UN, which identifies abortion access as a human right.[v] Blackbaud.com “supports the human rights principles contained in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Global Compact, the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and the International Labor Organization’s Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.”[vi] Another indicator of values, Blackbaud.com provides “Gender Confirmation benefits”[vii] Furthermore, Blackbaud.com warns, “The Company will not tolerate human rights violations.”[viii]
Block, Owner of Square, CashApp, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD – Abortion and Transgenderism
Block, the owner of Square, CashApp, Spiral, TIDAL, and TBD supports UN goals but is more explicit in its own support for abortion and transgenderism. Block’s 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report says, “In the U.S. in 2022 Block continued to cover comprehensive reproductive health services, including voluntary and involuntary abortion services. We also expanded medical travel and lodging coverage to include abortion services for any employee and/or their dependent who has to travel more than 100 miles from home to access in-network services.”[ix] Under an LGBTQ+ heading the report says, “Block strives to provide benefits globally that support a diversity of gender expressions, sexual orientations, and family structures. In the U.S. we offer coverage for gender-affirming treatment, fertility, surrogacy, and adoption support, and short-term disability coverage for gender-affirming surgeries.”[x]
Zelle, owned by Early Warnings Services , LLC – Abortion and Transgenderism
Zelle is owned by Early Warning Services LLC. Early Warning Services LLC is owned by a consortium of banks and financial institutions including Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, BB&T (Truist), PNC Bank, U.S. Bank, and Capital One. The first three are mentioned above as covering employee travel for abortions. Every one of these organizations is committed to abortion rights. The next three, BB&T/Truist[xi], PNC Bank[xii] and U.S. Bank[xiii] all support the UN Sustainable Development Goals, which support “body autonomy” and “reproductive health rights.”[xiv] UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem explained bodily autonomy this way in 2022, “Bodily autonomy means my body is for me; my body is my own. It’s about power, and it’s about agency. It’s about choice, and it’s about dignity. Bodily autonomy is the foundation for gender equality, and above all, it’s a fundamental right.”[xv]
BB&T/Truist – Transgenderism
BB&T/Truist boasts, “Enhanced structural inclusion by adding a feature in our human capital management system that allows teammates to add sexual orientation and gender identity.” “Truist published gender identity guidelines and definitions and a statement of support that all teammates who transition or change gender expression while on the job can expect the support of Truist management and human resources.”[xvi]
A final note on Zelle, Capital One sponsored “parades in various cities across the United States.” Derrick Williams, “shared what it means to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community and to have the support of his company behind him.” In the same section, Capital One says they have “welcoming and inclusive Values.” [xvii]
Toast – LGBTQIA+, Transgenderism
Toast, the restaurant-focused processor, “is honored and humbled to be recognized today with a score of 95 out of 100 on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s 2022 Corporate Equality Index, the nation’s foremost benchmarking survey and report measuring corporate policies and practices related to LGBTQIA+ workplace equality.”[xviii]
Stripe – Climate Change
Stripe is letting their customers fund the fight against climate change. They say, “With Stripe Climate, you can direct a fraction of your revenue to help scale emerging carbon removal technologies in just a few clicks.” [xix] Stripe’s contribution is assembling climate scientists and selecting carbon removal initiatives from which to purchase carbon removal through their subsidiary, Frontier.[xx] The strength of Stripe’s commitment is one million dollars with a total commitment of $15 million when combined with its customers. Stripe’s approximate commitment to funding climate change, even at a $10 million effort is .071% of its gross revenue.
Sources
[i] These companies are paying for abortion travel by Kate Gibson July 2, 2022, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/abortion-travel-companies-paying-benefits-amazon-starbucks-target/
[ii] Factbox: Companies offering abortion travel benefits to U.S. workers June 29, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/companies-offering-abortion-travel-benefits-us-workers-2022-06-24/
[iii] PayPal’s Support for the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals https://s201.q4cdn.com/231198771/files/doc_downloads/2022/04/PayPal-SDGs.pdf
[iv] Action Coalitions GLOBAL ACCELERATION PLAN 2021 PG 76 https://forum.generationequality.org/sites/default/files/2021-06/UNW%20-%20GAP%20Report%20-%20EN.pdf
[v] The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing, China – September 1995 https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/health.htm
[vi] Blackbaud’s Human Rights Policy https://cms.blackbaudcdn.net/media/docs/default-source/policies/human-rights.pdf?sfvrsn=e35aeed5_9
[vii] Blackbaud.com environmental, social, and governance https://csr.blackbaud.com/esg/2021-topics/
[viii] Code of Conduct https://investor.blackbaud.com/static-files/bf9c3696-073d-4ca2-b0e6-0128082792d5?_ga=2.60258605.1838406198.1682181984-1140667140.1682181984
[ix] Block’s 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Pg 40 https://investors.block.xyz/news/news-details/2023/Block-Publishes-2022-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Report/default.aspx
[x] Block’s 2022 Corporate Social Responsibility Report Pg 40 https://investors.block.xyz/news/news-details/2023/Block-Publishes-2022-Corporate-Social-Responsibility-Report/default.aspx
[xi] Truist 2020 CSR and ESG Report https://ir.truist.com/download/Truist+2020+CSR+and+ESG+Report+09022021.pdf
[xii] PNC 2021 Corporate Responsibility Report https://www.pnc.com/content/dam/pnc-com
[xiii] US Bank 2021 Environmental, social and governance Report https://ir.usbank.com/static-files/b33cccfd-6f2c-424e-afd8-8beb66b9f0e6
[xiv] The Sustainable Development Goals Report 2022 Page 37 https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/report/2022/The-Sustainable-Development-Goals-Report-2022.pdf
[xv]Bodily autonomy: A fundamental right UNFPA Executive Director Dr. Natalia Kanem March 16, 2022 https://www.unfpa.org/press/bodily-autonomy-fundamental-right#:~:text=Bodily%20autonomy%20means%20my%20body%20is%20for%20me%3B,equality%2C%20and%20above%20all%2C%20it%E2%80%99s%20a%20fundamental%20right.
[xvi] Truist 2020 CSR and ESG Report https://ir.truist.com/download/Truist+2020+CSR+and+ESG+Report+09022021.pdf pages 45 and 47
[xvii] Capital One Overview; A view into our corporate social responsibility https://ecm.capitalone.com/Release/wcm/COF_corporate-social-responsibility-2019-2020.pdf
[xviii] Toast Statement on the Human Rights Commission Corporate Equity Index 2022 https://pos.toasttab.com/news/toast-earns-recognition-from-human-rights-campaign-for-diversity-and-equality
[xix] Stripe Climate https://stripe.com/climate
[xx] Frontier carbon removal https://frontierclimate.com/writing/launch