Business Notes SOCIAL ISSUES

Big business usually does its best to avoid getting into hot controversies. But several companies are getting entangled in one of the most emotional issues of all: abortion. AT&T has become embroiled because of its annual donations to Planned Parenthood, which amounted to $50,000 last year. The company decided in March to stop funding the group, after 25 years of support, because the nonprofit group's "political advocacy" of abortion had grown. But at AT&T's annual meeting in Los Angeles last week, antiabortion shareholders lost a resolution that would have forbidden the telecommunications giant to give money to organizations "that endorse, counsel or perform abortions."

When the National Conference of Catholic Bishops hired the public relations firm Hill & Knowlton in early April to help launch an antiabortion campaign, many of the company's employees expressed outrage. More than a third of the 400 workers in its New York City offices signed a protest petition, and at least one client has reportedly canceled its account.