In the wake of Georgia passing its new ‘heartbeat bill,” which bans abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, the heads of two production companies have committed to no longer filming in the state, The Hill reports.
David Simon, creator of HBO’s The Deuce and The Wire, announced in a series of tweets that his production company, Blown Deadline, “will pull Georgia off the list until we can be assured the health options and civil liberties of our female colleagues are unimpaired.” Simon continued to say, “I can’t ask any female member of any film production with which I am involved to so marginalize themselves or compromise their inalienable authority over their own bodies.”
Can only speak for my production company. Our comparative assessments of locations for upcoming development will pull Georgia off the list until we can be assured the health options and civil liberties of our female colleagues are unimpaired. https://t.co/WTb0tj95zH
— David Simon (@AoDespair) May 9, 2019
I can’t ask any female member of any film production with which I am involved to so marginalize themselves or compromise their inalienable authority over their own bodies. I must undertake production where the rights of all citizens remain intact. Other filmmakers will see this. https://t.co/V2xDPKiMpo
— David Simon (@AoDespair) May 8, 2019
Right after Simon’s tweets, Christine Vachon, CEO of Killer Films, whose productions credits include Carol, Vox Lux and First Reformed, announced the company is also cutting ties with Georgia.
Killer Films will no longer consider Georgia as a viable shooting location until this ridiculous law is overturned.
— Christine Vachon (@kvpi) May 9, 2019
In early April, a petition announced by actress Alyssa Milano and signed by over 100 industry leaders threatened to abandon filming in the state if the abortion ban was signed, Bustle reports. In recent years, Georgia has seen billions of dollars in economic growth thanks to many Hollywood productions. Netflix’s tremendously popular Stranger Things films in Atlanta. Milano is set to appear in the second season of Netflix’s Insatiable, which is produced in Atlanta. She tweeted the list of names, in support of the boycott, which includes actress and activist Laverne Cox, comedians Amy Schumer and Sarah Silverman and many other celebrities.
.@brielarson, @PattyArquette, @1SpencerGarrett, @amysmart26, @MelissaJPeltier @GraceParra360, @halfadams, @Slack2thefuture, @mrrickywhittle, @eorlins & #NataliePortman are also telling @BrianKempGA, that #HB481IsBadForBusiness. There are now over 100 signers. pic.twitter.com/tsGTzX6xLf
— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) April 1, 2019
Georgia’s heartbeat law has been widely criticized by reproductive rights activists and medical professionals. The Huffington Post reports that heartbeat bills “fundamentally misunderstand fetal development.” Dr. Rebecca Cohen, an assistant professor of obsteterics and gynecology at the University of Colorado, told the publication that even when a heartbeat is detectable, “it’s not a fully formed heart like you would understand from looking at an adult or even a yound child. It’s a very early structure. We can see it on an ultrasound, but it’s not a heart, a fully developed organ, by any means.”
Furthermore, heartbeat legislation fails to acknowledge that most women don’t know they’re pregnant that early on, rendering such laws as a complete ban on abortion–the ultimate goal of pro-life groups and conservative. With Georgia being the fourth state to pass a heartbeat bill following Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi, pro-life groups are on a state-by-state journey to the Supreme Court with an agenda to abolish Roe v. Wade and a woman’s right to bodily and biological autonomy.
Header photo courtesy of Charles Edward Miller via Flickr
More from BUST
Georgia’s New Heartbeat Bill Is Another Dangerous Step Towards A “Handmaid’s Tale” Reality
Ohio’s Governor Just Signed One Of The Harshest Abortion Bills In America
