Eli Lilly Must Hold Proxy Votes on Abortion, Diversity, SEC Says

Eli Lilly and Co. must face shareholder proposals requesting reports on its abortion views and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the SEC said.

The DEI proposal was from liberal shareholder advocate As You Sow, while the abortion resolution came from the National Center for Public Policy Research, a conservative investor. Both are frequent filers of environmental, social and governance proposals. Lilly sought the Securities and Exchange Commission’s support to keep the proposals off the proxy ballot for its May 1 annual meeting, citing agency rules that let companies scrap micromanaging resolutions.

SEC staff disputed Lilly’s interpretation of the proxy regulations ...