Walmart Gives Gov. Greg Abbott $10,000 Five Days After Abortion Ban

Walmart is the gift that keeps on giving…reasons not to shop there. 

Look, squirrel! The discount retail behemoth would like you to turn your attention to their super early Black Friday sales, renewed commitment to American jobs, stock performance…anything to keep conscious consumers from pulling back the curtain on today’s news.

It was reported Tuesday that Walmart has been contributing to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s reelection campaign. A federal filing shows that Arkansas-based Walmart donated $10,000 to Abbott’s political action committee on Sept. 29.

Sure, the company double dips in the political arena, donating to PACs on both sides of the aisle. In a CNBC interview, a Walmart representative said:

“As a company that operates in all 50 states, it is necessary for us to engage political leaders from both parties across a broad spectrum of policy matters. … We have not been and will never be a single-issue contributor, and we recognize that at times elected officials will back legislation we don’t support or condone.”   

But the timing of Walmart’s $10,000 gift to the GOP governor is particularly disturbing, given that Abbott signed Senate Bill 4, effectively issuing a statewide abortion ban after six weeks of pregnancy, just five days prior to the donation. The governor was also just about to ban all vaccine mandates in the Lone Star State, which he did by executive order this month.

Photo: Jonathan Alcorn

The company was just under fire for shelling out $200,000 to Republican lawmakers who voted against the 2020 election certification. They soon after issued a statement claiming they would be “indefinitely suspending contributions to those members of Congress.” However, the Associated Press reported that they continued to indirectly kick down donations that benefited those lawmakers by way of GOP House and Senate committee donations.

The retail giant, which got its start back in 1962 by tapping into Christian fundamentalist values, has long been criticized for driving national wages down and pushing out small businesses. Dubbed the “Walmart Effect,” the company’s expansive domination around the country and obnoxiously low employee pay rates are credited with amplifying the growing income divide with devastating impacts on both the U.S. and global economy.   

Given their history, it comes as no surprise that they’d prop up an extreme pro-life governor, even if the decision contradicts wide public opinion. Pew Research reports that 59 percent of U.S. adults support legal abortion in all or most cases. The question now is whether that 59 percent will choose to hand their hard-earned money over to a company that assails their values.