Showrunners have raised $3 million for Abortion Fund’s National Network of Abortion Funds in an effort to protect abortion access for production workers in abortion-hostile states.
In a letter on Friday, the alliance — which includes about 1,500 television showrunners, producers and directors — also announced that it has partnered with each of the major studios (Amazon Studios, Apple TV+, NBC Universal, Netflix, Paramount, The Walt Disney). progressed along. company and Warner Bros. Discovery) toward implementing abortion safety protocols for all employees in these states.
“While there is still much work to be done, we can share that all nine studios we have contacted are engaging directly and personally with us to address the urgent need for security, privacy and legal protection for their employees. To be.”
One of the solutions these studios are implementing is a 24-hour Reproductive Health Protection Hotline for presentations in states that have restricted or prohibited abortion. The resource will “help workers meet the medical and legal challenges now faced by all who live and work in these states.”
The Coalition has also vowed to continue to hold studios accountable for identifying and implementing solutions to issues that have yet to be addressed.
In late July, a group of 400 female listeners compiled a list of specific demands for each studio. They were soon joined by about 600 male creatives and around that number of directors, On August 10, the studio sent in a joint response, which was condemned by organizations such as Women in Film for ignoring certain conditions such as discontinuing donations to anti-abortion politicians.
The Coalition thanked the studio for their initial response, but added that it “falls short of an adequate response to ensure workplace safety and prevent inevitable gender discrimination within our industry.” Additionally, he outlined a list of specific conditions required for employees in anti-abortion states.
Aside from initiatives directed at major studios and their executives, the collective went public with a fundraising campaign for NNAF, which seeks to raise a total of $5 million. JJ Abrams, Mindy Kaling, Damon Lindelof, Ava DuVernay, Shonda Rhimes, Jesse Williams, Dana Fox and others have posted about the effort under the hashtag #hollywood4abortionaccess.
