INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Hundreds of businesses are standing up for abortion rights in Indiana.
“We fully support reproductive rights. It’s a woman’s choice what to do with her body,” the co-owner of Amelia’s, Charlie McIntosh, said.
The Indianapolis bakery, Amelia’s, is one of more than 500 businesses in more than 50 cities listed in a letter that supports abortion access. The effort is led by the ACLU of Indiana.
The letter says restricting access to comprehensive reproductive care, including abortion, threatens the health, independence, and economic stability of employees and customers.
“We try to make it known to our staff that we’re not okay with this,” McIntosh said.
It adds that restricting access to abortion goes against their values and is bad for business.
“I mean once people’s rights start being taken away it’s just going to get worse from there, and we all have moms. I have sisters, I have a wife. It’s not okay with me, personally,” McIntosh said. “It’ll make it harder for people to lure people from out-of-state to come to a state where they don’t have full rights.”
McIntosh says he’s working to make sure his staff feels supported.
“Mostly, it doesn’t feel super productive on our part, but you know conversations of being worried about the direction is headed and hoping that our legislators in the state stand up for what’s right,” McIntosh said.
“It’s nice to feel supported. It’s nice to feel like you’re not in the fight alone,” an employee at Amelia’s, Chessa Rae, said.
Rae says it’s critical that other businesses do the same.
“It seems like kind of a no brainer. That said, that’s not the case at every business, so I feel incredibly lucky to work with people who respect my autonomy and my rights,” Rae said.
Amelia’s says it’s been positive to see other businesses take a stance in support of reproductive freedom.
