A coalition of nearly 1,500 showrunners and directors fighting for reproductive rights announced Friday that nine major Hollywood studios are stepping up to protect access to abortion.
The coalition—which includes creators like Shonda Rhimes, JJ Abrams, Mindy Kaling, and Judd Apatow—called on the nine companies to adopt plans to “guarantee that all employees and other production workers in need of emergency reproductive healthcare can be transported expeditiously across state lines” if located in a state where abortion has been made illegal. In the call to action last month, the group gave the studios until Labor Day to respond with an actionable response.
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“A few companies are already exploring ways to implement a 24-hour Health Safety Hotline for productions in abortion-hostile states. This critical resource will help ensure privacy and access to emergency and non-emergency healthcare and information and will help workers navigate the medical and legal challenges all people living and working in these states now face,” they continued, promising that they would continue to monitor the studios and hold them accountable in implementing the proposed solutions.
Studios Respond to Coalition in Joint Statement
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Following the coalition’s call to action, the nine studios released a joint statement, assuring they were “individually focused on supporting the health, safety, well-being and privacy” of their respective employees.
“Each of our individually designed corporate health plans provides comprehensive health care coverage for our respective employees,” the statement began. “We have been independently updating our respective employees—who live and work throughout the country—as plans and policies change and expand to provide reproductive care and other support now needed in states that have restricted or outlawed abortion access.”
The studios promised continued evaluation of the best ways to provide for all employees involved in their productions, sharing that “industry partners” have quickly addressed the reproductive rights issue following the overturning of Roe v. Wade.
“We want to assure you that we are individually focused on supporting the health, safety, well-being and privacy of our respective employees and those who support our productions as we continue to monitor this evolving situation.”
Read the full statements from the coalition and the studios here.