In response to the fear that the administration of President Donald Trump will defund Planned Parenthood, 75 tech leaders sent a strong message to Washington D.C. in support of the health services provider, stressing that it is good both for women and business.
"There is no doubt that current congressional efforts to cut off access to this essential health care provider would hurt women, their families, and the businesses they lead, work for, and support," says the letter, which is dated March 16.
The CEOs of Tumblr, Slack, Squarespace, Foursquare and Reddit are among the signatories, and recipients are four Congressional leaders: Mitch McConnell, Chuck Schumer, Paul Ryan and Nancy Pelosi.
"We have had an incredible relationship with the tech community for many many years. So many of the patients that we see at Planned Parenthood reach us through technology," Cecile Richards, the President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told CNBC in Austin, Texas, at the SXSW Conferences and Festivals.
Current congressional efforts to cut off access to this essential health care provider would hurt women, their families, and the businesses they lead, work for, and support.75 tech leaders in their letter to Congress
At SXSW, Planned Parenthood and Tumblr launched a collaborative effort to get support from the tech community for Planned Parenthood, organized around the hashtag #TechStandsWithPP.
The letter states: "When policymakers in Washington, DC, talk about 'defunding' Planned Parenthood, they are talking about dismantling access to basic health care in communities across the country, and stopping progress in its tracks."
"Indeed, our country is at a thirty-year low for unintended pregnancy and a historic low for teen pregnancy. We know Planned Parenthood's care and leadership have been instrumental to this success."
A majority of Americans stand with the tech community in supporting Planned Parenthood. More Americans have positive feelings about Planned Parenthood than about Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders or Barack Obama, according to a recent poll from NBC News and the Wall Street Journal.
Here is the full list of the letter's signatories:
David Karp, CEO, Tumblr
Erin Bagwell, CEO, Dream, Girl Film
Jessica Banks, CEO, RockPaperRobot
Hayley Barna, Venture Partner, First Round Capital
Phin Barnes, Partner, First Round Capital
Scott Belsky, Founder, Behance
Brett Berson, Partner, First Round Capital
Kiran Bhatraju, CEO, Arcadia Power
John Borthwick, CEO, Betaworks
Bryan Breckenridge, Executive Director, Box.org
DeVaris Brown, CTO, Super Heroic Inc.
Kristina Budelis, President, KitSplit
Stewart Butterfield, CEO, Slack
Karen Cahn, CEO, IFundWomen
Anthony Casalena, CEO, Squarespace, Inc.
Cariann Chan, CEO, Level
Sara Chipps, CEO, Jewelbots
Alex Chung, CEO, Giphy
Erin Clift, CMO, Kik Interactive, Inc.
David Cohen, co-CEO, Techstars
Meghan Conroy, CEO, Captureproof
Dennis Crowley, Executive Chair, Foursquare
Jess Davidoff, CEO, Admittedly
Kelsey Doorey, CEO, Vow To Be Chic
Avriel Epps, Cofounder, SeekU
Brad Feld, Managing Director, Foundry Group
Elizabeth Francis, Partner, Brilliant Ventures
Jeffrey Glueck, CEO, Foursquare
Jocelyn Goldfein, Managing Director, Zetta Venture Partners
Kristen Goldstein, CEO, HireAthena
Lisa Hammann, Vice President and Region Head, North American Supply Chain, Genentech
Corie Hardee, CEO, Union Station
Julia Hartz, CEO, Eventbrite
Rob Hayes, Partner, First Round Capital
Scott Heiferman, CEO, Meetup
David Hirsch, Managing Partner, Compound VC
Grant Hughs, CSO, FocusMotion
Jennifer Hyman, CEO, Rent the Runway
Kellee James, CEO, Mercaris
Harleen Kahlon, CEO, Bolde
Josh Kopelman, Partner, First Round Capital
Sarah Lacy, CEO, PandoMedia
Aileen Lee, Managing Partner, Cowboy Ventures
Aaron Levie, CEO, Box
Jake Levine, CEO, Electric Objects
Moj Mahdara, CEO, Beautycon Media
Melody McCloskey, CEO, StyleSeat
Joanna McFarland, CEO, HopSkipDrive
Sheel Mohnot, Partner, 500 Startups
Howard Morgan, Partner, First Round Capital
Paul Murphy, CEO, Dots
Alexis Ohanian, Cofounder, Reddit
Eric Paley, Managing Partner , Founder Collective
Deven Parekh, Managing Director, Insight Venture Partners
Satya Patel, Partner, Homebrew
Georg Petschnigg, CEO, FiftyThree
Bijan Sabet, General Partner, Spark Capital
Chris Sacca, Chairman, Lowercase Capital
Noa Santos, CEO, Homepolish
Kenneth Schlenker, CEO, Stellar Base
Brian Shimmerlik, CEO, Vengo
Kristen Sonday, COO, Paladin
Robert Stavis, Partner, Bessemer Venture Partners
Jennifer Sutton, CPO, EVRYTHNG
Doug Ulman, CEO, Pelotonia
Hunter Walk, Partner, Homebrew
Rick Webb, COO, Timehop
Kara Weber, Partner, Brilliant Ventures
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson, CEO, Fitz
Fred Wilson, Partner, Union Square Ventures
Joanne Wilson, Owner, Gotham Gal Ventures
Denielle Wolf, CDO, Arloskye
Tim Wu, Professor of Law, Columbia University
Susan Zheng, CEO, Planted
