Sheryl Sandberg Donates $3 Million To Fight Abortion Rights

Less than a week after formally stepping down as the COO of Meta, Sheryl Sandberg is donating $3 million to the American Civil Liberties Union’s abortion rights advocacy work. 

It’s the biggest single donation to the ACLU’s political work on abortion rights in the group’s history. Anthony Romero, the organization’s executive director hopes, “it becomes a rallying cry for others to follow and inspires other wealthy progressives to open their pocketbooks.” The ACLU said it will use these funds to beef up its get-out-the-vote and voter education efforts — particularly in overlooked state and local races.

“This is no longer just at the federal level — this is state by state, ballot initiative by ballot initiative, judge by judge,” Sandberg said. “This is now a political fight that is going to take everyone. So many people care about this issue and we need all of those people to become much, much, much more active.” Sandberg further added, “This is the beginning of a very deep partnership” with the ACLU and other advocacy groups. 

The best-selling author and former top aide to Clinton administration Treasury Secretary Larry Summers has also said she plans to focus on philanthropic work in her post-Meta career, “given how critical this moment is for women.”

Three months after the overturn of Roe v. Wade, more than a dozen states in the United States have enacted near-total bans on abortions, with varying exemptions for cases of rape, incest and life endangerment. While lawsuits brought by the ACLU and other advocacy groups have recently halted enforcement in a handful of places, including Ohio and Indiana, the list of states where abortion is virtually inaccessible continues to grow. Organizations across the political spectrum are also pouring unprecedented resources into campaigns for the candidates and ballot initiatives that will determine the future of abortion rights.

Sandberg said that she decided to become more involved when the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade coincided with her decision to leave her longtime Silicon Valley position. While she has previously donated to progressive causes including abortion rights, including a $1 million donation to Planned Parenthood soon after President Donald Trump took office in 2017, she said a yearslong relationship with the ACLU steered her in its direction.

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