By Suzanne Bowdey

The last thing any CEO wants to hear right now is that their brand has been linked to some sort of hot-button political crusade. After a 16-month beating from anti-woke consumers, the order of the day for corporate America is simple: keep your head down and avoid the cultural landmines. Unfortunately for retailers like Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and others, the brands don’t always choose the war. Sometimes, the war comes to them.

While the rest of the country was reeling from the assassination attempt against Donald Trump and Joe Biden’s exit from his reelection campaign, New York City’s comptroller was busy extorting five of America’s biggest companies. In threatening letters, the Big Apple’s Brad Lander, who helps control the city’s massive retirement fund, warned CEOs that if they didn’t start selling the risky abortion pill, mifepristone, in their stores, he would dump $1.3 billion dollars in company shares.

In missives to all five corporations (which also included Albertsons and McKesson), Lander used similar language, writing, “The Costco Board of Directors’ and management’s failure to publicly commit to Costco becoming a certified mifepristone dispenser therefore raises significant investor concerns. These concerns include the company’s responsiveness to a growing market opportunity, its mitigation of potential reputational risks, and its commitment to maximizing sales and long-term shareholder value.”

Among other things, the comptroller claims that “mifepristone’s safety is well established,” a common lie that’s been debunked by countless personal testimonies, emergency room statistics, and in-depth research. Apart from the drug’s stunning 10% failure rate, other studies have shown an alarming rate of potentially deadly side effects. A Finnish study of 42,600 women found that out of the 20% of women who experienced serious complications, 15.6% experienced hemorrhaging and 6.7% suffered an incomplete abortion, in which fetal body parts had to be surgically removed.

And yet, Lander insists, “I am writing to urge Costco to immediately take the necessary steps to receive certification to dispense the medication mifepristone in states where it is legal. Following pharmacy industry leaders, and competitors, CVS and Walgreens, Costco has the opportunity to provide access to abortion medication through its pharmacies. Making mifepristone available benefits customers and employees and increases sales, while also generating long-term shareholder value. It is incumbent on the Board and management to promptly act to ensure that Costco quickly becomes certified and starts dispensing mifepristone without delay.”

But Lander might have chosen the wrong time to pick a fight with shareholders. In a surprisingly bold stroke, a group of 38 financial managers are hitting back, urging Costco, Kroger, Walmart, Albertsons, and McKesson to stand their ground or face the conservative wrath that’s brought companies like Target, Bud Light, Doritos, John Deere, and Tractor Supply to their knees.

The counterpunch, led by firms with more than $100 billion dollars in assets under management, includes representatives from Inspire Investing, Guidestone, Morgan Stanley, Truist, Bowyer Research, Innovest Portfolio Solutions, Transform Retirement, Barbara Mull Investment Solutions, Pax Financial Group, Harvest Investment, Steward Guide Wealth Partners, WSI Financial Partners, Kingdom Focused Financial, Christian Wealth Management, Chandler Wealth Management, Insight Financial, 4:8 Financial, Blue Jasper Capital, Bright Portfolios, Surepath Financial Services, Sage Oak Financial, Schwallier Wealth Managers, and more than 400 other Costco investors.

To Lander’s suggestion that selling a dangerous do-it-yourself abortion drug would boost these brands’ stock, the group fires back, “Not true.” “Maximizing shareholder value,” they warn, “requires Costco to avoid politicizing its services and to continue to do what it has always done best, provide excellent grocery and retail goods to families. The ‘growing market opportunity’ of abortion drugs is legally and politically fraught, raises significant reputational issues, and reduces the company’s customer base, both literally and because it would drive away many existing customers.”

Together, the group boasts of more than $172 million dollars in ownership of the five retailers, which should add significant financial weight to their concerns. “There’s simply no question that Costco’s decision to sell abortion drugs would automatically risk its brand reputation,” CEO of Inspire Investing Robert Netzly argued. “Entering the abortion drug marketplace is an inescapably political decision. This is just like Bud Light, Disney, and Target. All three have taken affirmative stances on controversial issues in recent years and have yet to recover from the backlash.”

And what kind of successful business plan, David Bahnsen added, snuffs out future consumers? “Selling chemical abortion drugs undermines a retail pharmacy’s bottom line,” the financial advisor reiterated. “Instead of selling a lifetime supply of everyday goods like diapers, cough syrup, groceries, toys, food, and clothing, a store settles for a one-time purchase that undermines a lifetime of opportunity.”

There aren’t many companies these days willing to risk the billions of dollars in public backlash that comes with embracing the Left’s agenda. If Costco, Walmart, Kroger, and others want to stay in Americans’ good graces, they’ll stick with serving customers, not eliminating them.

At the end of the day, Family Research Council’s Mary Szoch pointed out, “These shareholders are working to ensure that Costco, Kroger, and Walmart remain retail stores and not abortion businesses. What mom wants to go to the grocery store to pick up deli meat that she’ll pack in her child’s lunchbox knowing that a drug starving an unborn child to death is being dispensed in that same store?” she asked. “What dad wants to pick out ice cream with his five-year-old daughter while watching a pharmacist hand a woman a drug that will kill her unborn child and leave her alone in her bathroom as she delivers her visibly recognizable child’s body into the toilet? Retail stores should remain just that — places to buy diapers, baby food, milk, and cereal — not places to pick up a drug that is solely intended to kill a human being.”

Suzanne Bowdey serves as editorial director and senior writer at The Washington Stand.