The Writers Guild is urging Hollywood to stop film production in states that ban abortion following the leaked Supreme Court draft decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.
On Wednesday the The Writers Guild of America West, the union that represents writers in film, television, radio and internet programming, called on their employers to not film in states that ban abortion and instead opt for locations where abortion will be preserved by state law.
‘In light of the leaked #SupremeCourt draft opinion on #abortionrights, we want to reaffirm our Guild’s commitment to fighting on our members’ behalf against inequality and discrimination,’ the labor union tweeted on Wednesday.
On Wednesday the The Writers Guild of America West, called on their employers to not film in states that ban abortion
The Writers Guild plea comes days after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion revealed that the court has voted to strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling
There are 18 states that have near-total bans on their books, while four more have time-limit band and four others are likely to pass new bans if Roe is overturned
‘Women’s rights are human rights, and any laws that ban or limit a woman’s right to choose are dangerous and set a precedent for further erosion of our collective civil rights,’ WGAW tweeted.
‘We call on our employers to consider the laws of each state when choosing production locations to ensure that our members will never be denied full access to reproductive healthcare,’ another tweet added.
The plea to Hollywood comes days after a leaked Supreme Court draft opinion written by Samuel Alito and published by POLITICO revealed that the court has voted to strike down the landmark 1973 ruling Rove v. Wade, which legalized abortion in the United States.
Alito wrote in part, ‘Roe was egregiously wrong from the start.’ The George W. Bush-appointed justice goes on to say that the issue of abortion should be returned to the ‘people’s elected representatives’ to decide.
The opinion was drafted in February 2022. It’s likely that a final ruling will be made public within the next two months, reports Politico.
Currently more than half of all US states have some kind of abortion ban law that is likely to take effect if Roe v Wade is overturned by the United States Supreme Court, according to a report.
According to the pro-reproductive rights group The Guttmacher Institute, at least 22 states have laws on the books that would come into effect once the decision is officially adopted.
The organization also identified four more states that it expects to pass new abortion bans in the near future, marking a total of 26 states that appear set to ban the procedures
The 18 states that have near-total bans on abortion already on the books are Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.
In addition, Georgia, Iowa, Ohio, and South Carolina all have laws that ban abortions after the six-week mark.
At the time of writing, those six-week bans have been ruled unconstitutional.
The Writers Guild called for Hollywood to ‘reassess’ production in Florida in March after Governor Ron DeSantis passed the so-called ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill.
‘We urge all WGA signatory companies to reassess not only their political giving, but also where they choose to spend their production dollars,’ the guild said in a statement. ‘Show, don’t tell, that you value the LGBTQ+ community.’
In 2019, actors called for Hollywood to cancel production in the Georgia in response to the signing of the ‘heartbeat’ abortion law.
But producer and actor Tyler Perry said despite not agreeing with the bill, cancelling production in the state could backfire.
‘What I know about this industry is that there are 94,000-plus or 98,000 people who are in this industry and who are benefiting from it greatly,’ he said told AP in 2019. ‘And that’s a lot of votes.’