Sheryl Sandberg donates $3 million to ACLU to fight abortion bans

Facebook's former chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg is donating $3 million to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to fight abortion bans across the U.S.

Driving the news: The announcement, which comes a week after Sandberg left the company, will allow the ACLU to expand its reproductive rights operations, including efforts to educate voters on judicial candidates' abortion records, support ballot measures to safeguard access and oppose restrictions in Congress and state legislatures.

What they're saying: "Few things are more important to women’s equality than access to safe and legal abortion," Sandberg, the author of the books "Lean In" and "Option B," said in a statement. "We’ve only just begun to see the devastating impact that state abortion bans will have on women's health, and their ability to determine the course of their own lives."

• "I am proud to work with the ACLU to educate voters and persuade more people who support rights for women to act — and restore rights that were taken from us."
• "With Sheryl’s support on abortion rights, we can kick it into overdrive and redouble the fight for abortion access in the states," added Anthony D. Romero, ACLU's executive director. "The midterm elections are the warm-up to the 2024 general election, when abortion access will certainly be on the ballot in almost every race."

The big picture: The U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to an abortion has hardened sentiments in red and blue states and put critical access questions in front of voters this fall, Axios' Oriana Gonzalez and Victoria Knight report.

• The ACLU is involved in several legal challenges against GOP-led states' recently enacted bans.

Go deeper: Inside the ACLU's campaign to build a Roe firewall