TEXAS — Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, on Friday announced he sent a letter to Citigroup that claims it is circumventing the state’s strict abortion law.

What You Need To Know

  • Texas state Rep. Briscoe Cain, R-Deer Park, sent a letter to Citigroup warning that if it doesn’t reverse its abortion policy it could lose state business

  • Citigroup is paying expenses for employees who leave the state in order to obtain an abortion

  • Cain said he will introduce a bill during the next legislative session that would result in Citigroup being unable to underwrite municipal bonds in Texas

  • A recent study from by the University of Texas at Austin found that nearly 1,400 women sought out-of-state abortions each month following the implementation of Texas’ law

According to Cain, the company recently enacted a policy to pay travel costs and expenses for employees who travel out of Texas in order to get abortions.

In the letter to Citigroup CEO Jane Fraser, Cain says that he will introduce legislation during the next session that would bar local governments in Texas from doing business with companies that cover abortion expenses for employees or that provide abortion coverage as an employee benefit.

Cain called Citigroup’s policy a “grotesque abuse of the fiduciary duty that you owe to the many shareholders of your company that oppose abortion.”

Cain said that if the bill were to become law, it would prevent Citigroup from underwriting municipal bonds in Texas.

Citigroup in a filing last week announced the abortion expense policy in response to “changes in reproductive health care laws in certain states.”

The Texas law that went into effect in September 2021 bans abortion as soon as cardiac activity can be detected in a fetus, which is often as soon as six weeks into pregnancy and before many women know they are pregnant.

The law additionally empowers citizens to sue doctors and anyone else who aids a woman in obtaining an abortion after the specified period.

A recent study by the University of Texas at Austin found that nearly 1,400 women sought out-of-state abortions per month following the implementation of Texas’ law.