Sandberg says she’ll focus on women’s advocacy after stepping down as Facebook COO

Meta Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg, who announced on Wednesday that she was stepping down from the company, indicated in an interview that her departure was partly influenced by the leaked Supreme Court opinion on Roe v. Wade.

“It’s just not a job that leaves room for a lot of other stuff in your life. This is a really important moment for women. This is a really important moment for me to be able to do more with my philanthropy, with my foundation,” Sandberg told Fortune of her desire to focus on advocacy following the leaked draft majority opinion last month showed that the Supreme Court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark decision that established the federal right to abortion.

At the time of that leak, Sandberg was outspoken about the issue. 

“If the leaked draft opinion becomes the law of the land, one of our most fundamental rights will be taken away,” she said in a social media post at the time.

Sandberg was with Meta, formerly known as Facebook, for 14 years prior to her departure. 

In her post announcing her departure, she had said she planned to focus “more on my foundation and philanthropic work, which is more important to me than ever given how critical this moment is for women.”

Sandberg had also focused on gender equality in her book “Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.”

Sandberg told Axios that she saw an “incredibly bright” future for Meta, adding, “I believe as deeply in Mark as ever” in reference to Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder.

She has said she intends to leave the company “this fall.”