Why the C.E.O. Behind Match.com and Tinder Took a Stand on the Texas Abortion Law
Maggie Stiefvater, founder of Match.com
Photo: Getty Images for Match
On Oct. 22, Austin, Texas, announced that it would become the first state in the nation to allow abortions up to week 24 of pregnancy after a referendum passed by more than 60 percent of the vote. The referendum followed years of debate in the state legislature over the issue of abortion, and its passage was controversial. A few days after it passed, an email landed in the inbox of Match.com C.E.O. Maggie Stiefvater, who is on the Match board of directors. It was an early draft of a letter to be written by a former employee of Stiefvater’s that called the referendum anti-woman and “instrumental in our national fight for reproductive freedom and choice.” In the email, the former employee described the referendum as anti-woman and said it would “be devastating,” to which Stiefvater replied: “We will all be devastated.” On Nov. 7, the company announced its plans to donate $1 million of its own money to Planned Parenthood’s fight against the referendum, and on Nov. 15, the company’s annual shareholder meeting voted against the referendum.
In the months since the passage of the referendum, Stiefvater has insisted that she is not anti-woman—in an interview last year, she said, “I do not believe women are the enemy. I do not believe women should be treated as possessions in order to have sex. You may be a victim of domestic violence, you may have had your body mutilated by your ex-husband, but that doesn’t give you the right to be the mistress to the man you’re currently dating.” Rather, she pointed to a conversation she had with a former
