CVS Health Corporation | Reproductive rights and data privacy at CVS health corporation

Status
Withdrawn
AGM date
Resolution details
Company ticker
CVS
Lead filer
Arjuna Capital
Resolution ask
Report on or disclose
ESG theme
  • Social
ESG sub-theme
  • Public health
Type of vote
Shareholder proposal
Filer type
Shareholder
Company sector
Health Care
Company HQ country
United States
Resolved clause
RESOLVED: Shareholders request our Board issue a public report detailing known and potential risks and costs to the
Company of fulfilling information requests relating to CVS customers for the enforcement of state laws criminalizing
abortion access, and setting forth any strategies beyond legal compliance the Company may deploy to minimize or
mitigate these risks. The report should be produced at reasonable expense, exclude proprietary or legally privileged
information, and be published within one year of the annual meeting
Whereas clause
WHEREAS: Following the revocation of the constitutional right to an abortion in June 2022, federal policymakers and
legislators are concerned about the use of personal digital data for the enforcement of state laws that ban or limit
abortion access. Congress is considering bills that increase privacy protections for personal reproductive health
information. California requires out-of-state law enforcement seeking personal data from California corporations to
attest the investigation does not involve any crime concerning an abortion that is lawful in California.
Law enforcement frequently relies on digital consumer data. While CVS does not publicly report figures on law
enforcement requests compliance, Alphabet and Meta collectively received around 110,000 requests in the second half
of 2021. Each complied with about 80 percent of those requests.1
In 2022, Meta satisfied a Nebraska police warrant for
private Facebook messages from a defendant facing felony charges for allegedly helping her daughter terminate a
pregnancy,2
receiving significant negative press.
CVS collects sensitive personal digital information including geolocation and inferential data, internet activity, and
commercial history. Shareholders are concerned data will be accessed without consumer consent by states that
criminalize abortion. The Company’s privacy policies allow CVS to disclose personal consumer information “in response
to a . . . request from law enforcement.”3 However, such law enforcement requests may seek evidence of consumer acts
that are inappropriate for CVS to voluntarily share – for example, customers’ financial activities that were legal in the
state where they occurred, such as purchasing abortifacients.
CVS collects and stores digital consumer data and is not immune to abortion-related law enforcement requests that
may create significant reputational, financial, and legal risks. CVS already complies with “deletion rights'' under
California law, wherein consumers may request the Company delete personal data that it is not legally required to
retain. There is a strong brand benefit to increasing longstanding consumer privacy expectations.

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