David Simon, the creator of The Wire, is moving production on his upcoming HBO series out of Texas due to the state’s restrictive new abortion ban.
“If an employer, this is beyond politics. I’m turning in scripts next month on an HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas, but I can’t and won’t ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there,” Simon tweeted regarding his decision before asking, “What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth?”
Some followers bristled at the writer’s stance, with one asking, “Were you expecting the entire female crew to need an abortion while there? This is so condescending to women and you don’t even realize it,” to which he responded, “No…I don’t anticipate anything other than that if even one of our employees requires full control of her own body and choices — and if a law denies this or further criminalizes our attempt to help her exercise that control, we should have filmed elsewhere.”
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Simon’s announcement comes just weeks after the Texas Heartbeat Act went into effect on September 1st, banning access to abortion for virtually any reason after six weeks of pregnancy. The state’s plan for enforcement of the law is also bizarrely the first of its kind, allowing private citizens to sue patients, doctors, clinics, and even ride-share drivers for participating in or assisting an abortion — even if the person filing the lawsuit has no vested interest whatsoever in the medical care in question.
Read the showrunner’s announcement as well as some of his most charged responses and clapbacks to commenters below.
Earlier this month, Simon also wrote an op-ed in The New York Times remembering Michael K. Williams following the Emmy-nominated star’s sudden passing on September 6th.
If an employer, this is beyond politics. I’m turning in scripts next month on an HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas, but I can’t and won’t ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there. What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth? https://t.co/q6Py6XikYh
Advertisement— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 20, 2021
No Dianabunchanumbers, I don’t anticipate anything other than that if even one of our employees requires full control of her own body and choices — and if a law denies this or further criminalizes our attempt to help her exercise that control, we should have filmed elsewhere. https://t.co/hn0P2Us0CC
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 21, 2021
Love Austin and San Antonio. Even like Houston some. And you are blissfully unaware that this is not a political decision for us; we can’t ethically ask any female cast/crew to relocate to any state that requires them to forgo civil liberties. The end. https://t.co/j5WVrr7hfp
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 22, 2021
No female cast. And overseas production component based in S. Africa where abortion laws liberalized in 1996. Now fuck all of the way off with your candyass Twitter gotcha game. https://t.co/CIJdFVL38m
Advertisement— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 22, 2021
Astonishing that I can distinguish between a PRIVATE individual’s reproductive choice that involves their singularity — and collective participation in a PUBLIC health crisis in which decisions affect society as whole. Crazy, yeah, but hey, I’m not a submoronic ideologue. https://t.co/40LmE8uSji
— David Simon (@AoDespair) September 22, 2021
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