Ex-Goldman Partner: Wall Street Silence Failed Low-Income Women

(Bloomberg) -- Until last year, Colleen Foster was a partner at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., where she thrived as a commodities executive in a world dominated by men. She's also spent years on Planned Parenthood's national board, and is now treasurer of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. On Tuesday, after news broke of a draft Supreme Court opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade, she spoke to Bloomberg News' Max Abelson about Wall Street and the fight for reproductive rights. This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Bloomberg News: Should Wall Street have seen this coming?

Colleen Foster: Oh, they did see this coming. I think they just chose not to get involved. It wasn't an issue they felt had an economic or employee imperative. On the employee issue, abortion was looked at differently than marriage equality because it doesn't affect our employees--that's because our employees are not low-income earners. So access for our employees, even if bans are imposed or Roe is overturned, will not be restricted. Basically, low-income women are the people who are going to be affected by this issue, not Wall Street high-income earners. Anyone with the means will have access to safe and legal abortion, they can get to where they need to be. And then on the economic side, the pressure to deliver profitability overshadows the need to weigh in on political issues: We're going to move people to Texas and Florida because it's more economic, and shareholder value is enhanced by having businesses operate in lower corporate-tax environments. That imperative overshadows the desire to wade into what is perceived as a political issue.

BN: What would you like to see now from Wall Street leaders?

CF: I'd like them to take into consideration not only corporate profitability, but also the impact to society and the damage that this will impose. I would like them to look at this as an issue of equality, not politics.

BN: Why haven't they?

CF: This is an issue that people of privilege don't have to consider. We will always have good health care, we will always have good access to reproductive health. Because we have the means. That's why there's this believability gap--“that's never going to happen.” Well, it's never going to happen to me.

BN: Were you surprised Wall Street executives haven't been more involved?

CF: Lloyd Blankfein was a trailblazer because he got involved in the marriage-equality fight early, and it really mattered. They made the argument around talent: We need to recruit the most talented people. So it was an easy case for the firm to make and for us to get involved in. The reproductive-rights movement is really about poor people and people of color. Unless we support the most marginalized communities in our country--and that means access to health care, and abortion is health care, birth control is health care--then I think it will be difficult for corporate America to accomplish the diversity goals they're planning to achieve.

BN: What needs to change in the minds of executives?

CF: That it's a social imperative. It is a critical tenant of racial justice, because of the way in which the bans will disproportionately affect women of color.

BN: Could Wall Street have helped?

CF: Yes. If corporations that are Texas-based stood up to the state legislature on behalf of their employees, that may have changed the outcome of their state law.

BN: What do executives say?

CF: They're worried about profitability. They're worried about client sentiment. And they don't want to wade into an issue that could put them at odds with policy makers or clients. There's a handful of brave CEOs. Jane Fraser is a hero, and it takes a female executive and a board that's half women.

BN: You adopted your son. How did that impact your support for reproductive rights?

CF: I don't feel that it is my right to judge or have an opinion about any other person's choice. My view of Christianity is that we're supposed to love our neighbors, and not judge our neighbors, and allow our neighbors the freedom of their choice.