Shonda Rhimes, Lena Dunham Among 400+ TV Creators to Demand Abortion Protections from Execs

Glenn Garner
·4 min read
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Shonda Rhimes attending the Vanity Fair Oscar Party held at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. (Photo by Ian West/PA Images via Getty Images); Mindy Kaling arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of Focus Features' "Vengeance"at Ace Hotel on July 25, 2022 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Steve Granitz/FilmMagic); Lena Dunham attends Friendly House 30th Annual Awards Luncheon at The Beverly Hilton Hotel on October 26, 2019 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Jon Kopaloff/Getty Images,)

Ian West/PA Images/Getty; Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Jon Kopaloff/Getty

Hollywood is taking a stand for safe access to abortion.

More than 400 TV creators, showrunners and head writers signed an open letter to the industry's top executives, outlining specific steps to protect pregnant employees in states where abortion is outlawed following the Supreme Court's decision to overturn 1973's Roe v. Wade.

"We have grave concerns about the lack of specific production protocols in place to protect those at work for Netflix in anti-abortion states," they wrote in the letter, which was shared by Variety.

RELATED: House of Representatives Passes Bills to Protect Access to Abortion After Roe v. Wade Is Overturned

Although the letter was addressed to Netflix, others were sent to Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Apple, Paramount, Lionsgate, Amazon and AMC, according to the publication, demanding to review their "policies and processes to ensure our safety, protect our health and defend our human rights."

Representatives for Netflix, Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, NBC Universal, Apple, Paramount, Lionsgate, Amazon and AMC did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.

The letter called for an "abortion safety plan" that prioritized abortion travel subsidy, employee medical privacy safeguards, medical care protocols, criminal and civil protection and a "pledge to discontinue all political donations to anti-abortion candidates and political action committees immediately."

WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - JUNE 25: Pro-life-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators gather in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2022. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES - JUNE 25: Pro-life-abortion and abortion rights demonstrators gather in front of the US Supreme Court in Washington, DC, on June 25, 2022. (Photo by Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

Yasin Ozturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Protestors outside the Supreme Court

"It is unacceptable to ask any person to choose between their human rights and their employment," they wrote, in part. "This situation raises basic matters of equality, health, and safety in the workplace.

"Many of us would not have the careers and families we have today if we had not been granted the freedom to choose what was best for ourselves. We are committed, as a group, to protecting our fundamental human rights and those of our colleagues," the letter continued.

The list of signatures includes Pamela Adlon, Sara Bareilles, Vanessa Bayer, Lake Bell, Rachel Bloom, Carrie Brownstein, Diablo Cody, Whitney Cummings, Lena Dunham, Ava DuVernay, Maya Erskine, Bridget Everett, Chelsea Handler, Abbi Jacobson, Mindy Kaling, Anna Konkle, Natasha Lyonne, Issa Rae, Shonda Rhimes, Amy Schumer, Lilly Wachowski, Lena Waithe and more.

Disney, Netflix, Paramount, Warner Bros. Discovery and Comcast (which owns NBC Universal) have previously shown their support for employees amid the ruling, outlining their respective benefits that provide access to abortion.

joe biden
joe biden

Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg/Getty

Meanwhile, President Joe Biden has doubled down on his pro-choice support this month, signing an executive order to ensure access to abortion and the "safety of patients, providers, and third parties."

"I'm asking the Justice Department that, much like they did in the Civil Rights era, to do everything in their power to protect these women seeking to invoke their rights," Biden, 79, said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has since released a guidance clarifying that federal law preempts state abortion bans in cases of medical emergency in which the mother's life is at risk.

RELATED VIDEO: President Joe Biden Signs Executive Order to Protect Abortion Access

The House of Representatives also passed two bills that would protect nationwide access to abortion and other forms of reproductive healthcare. The Ensuring Women's Right to Reproductive Freedom Act would protect a patient's rights to travel across state lines for abortion services, while the Women's Health Protection Act would allow healthcare workers the right to provide abortion services and patients the right to obtain them, regardless of several state bans.

Though both pieces of legislation were passed by the Democrat-led House, the bills are unlikely to pass the Republican-led Senate.

Last month's 6-to-3 ruling reversed nearly 50 years of precedent, giving states the power to pass their own laws around abortion. Arkansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Missouri and South Dakota are among those that have already banned abortion in their states, after putting trigger laws in place that governors enacted following the SCOTUS ruling.

Protests have since erupted around the country, and Biden has spoken out against the ruling, which he called the "realization of an extreme ideology and a tragic error by the Supreme Court."

The decision comes after the SCOTUS opinion was leaked to Politico in May. A poll conducted by CNN has since found that 66 percent of Americans did not want Roe v. Wade to be overturned.