The WGA West is calling on Hollywood to consider not shooting films and TV shows in states that ban abortions. The move comes in the wake of a leaked draft opinion by a 5-4 majority of the Supreme Court that would overturn Roe v. Wade and let states decide whether to ban abortions.
“In light of the leaked Supreme Court draft opinion on abortion rights, we want to reaffirm our Guild’s commitment to fighting on our members’ behalf against inequality and discrimination,” the guild’s board of directors said in a statement. “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. 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.”
The statement was signed by WGA West president Meredith Stiehm; vice president Michele Mulroney; secretary-treasurer Betsy Thomas, and board members Liz Alper, Patti Carr, Robb Chavis, Marjorie David, Travis Donnelly, Ashley Gable, Dante W. Harper, Eric Haywood, Deric A. Hughes, E. Nicholas Mariani, Zoe Marshall, Dailyn Rodriguez, David Slack, Patric M. Verrone, and Nicole Yorkin.
Actors’ Equity Association, the national labor union representing more than 51,000 actors and stage managers in live theater, issued this statement on the leaked SCOTUS opinion Tuesday:
“Equity is appalled by the news that the federal rights enfranchised by the Supreme Court in 1973 may now be denied. Abortion is a necessary and often life-saving medical procedure that requires safe, legal and open access. This ruling would most acutely affect multiple communities that are already marginalized in America, leaving them to bear the brunt of the disastrous effect of the court’s action.
“This is also very much a workers’ issue. We stand in solidarity with health care workers, many of whom already risk assault for providing abortions and other reproductive services, and who stand to face more personal and legal danger in the light of this ruling. Furthermore, theatre is an industry in which it is notoriously difficult to support a family, and in which pregnancy discrimination is all too common. Reproductive choice is an indispensable tool in determining one’s own fate. Choosing when and how to have a child is not a luxury, it is a human right.
“The repercussions of this decision could be far-reaching. The reasonings applied to overturn Roe v. Wade could be deployed to undo much of the human rights progress of the last several decades, including the very rights for LGBTQ+ people that are already being attacked in states across the country. We support bodily autonomy for all. We stand opposed to any efforts by the Supreme Court, or any other body, to roll back human rights. We stand opposed to oppression. We stand in solidarity.”