June , 2023
The Showrunners for Abortion Rights STUDIO REPORT CARD.
In 2022, a coalition of showrunners demanded new protections for womxn and people who can become pregnant working on productions shooting in states where abortion is now banned and criminalized. See their Report Card below tracking the progress of each studio over the year.
Read their full statement here
We are outraged that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe v. Wade, undoing 50 years of protections and threatening the lives and livelihoods of millions. We’re turning our collective rage into action, providing the below list of abortion resources offered by employers for those working in the entertainment industry—which will be regularly updated as we receive new information. If your company is offering travel support for healthcare or other abortion-related benefits, please let us know.
“We’re focused right now on ensuring that women and people who can get pregnant who are working in states that are outlawing or have outlawed abortion still have access to safe and legal abortion.”
WIF CEO Kirsten Schaffer, to TheWrap
What entertainment industry employers are offering:
- Amazon – Will pay up to $4,000 in travel expenses annually for medical treatments including abortion. [Source]
- Apple – Health plan covers abortion care and travel costs if necessary. [Source]
- Buzzfeed – Stipend provided for employees residing in states with abortion trigger laws, covering travel and expenses. [Source]
- Comcast – Employees’ travel for medical services unavailable near an employee’s home are covered. [Source]
- Condé Nast – Covered employees and their covered dependents are now eligible for reimbursement on travel and lodging if they cannot locally obtain care for abortion, infertility, or gender-affirming services. [Source]
- Disney – Travel benefit allowing for “affordable coverage for receiving similar levels of care in another location.” [Source]
- Endeavor – Out of state care and travel costs for abortions is covered for employees.
- Google – Employees can apply to relocate to another state without justification. [Source]
- Live Nation – Covering employees’ travel expenses for out-of-state women’s healthcare services, as well as bail expenses for arrests during peaceful protests. [Source]
- Meta – Offering travel expense reimbursements for out-of-state reproductive services, to the extent permitted by law. [Source]
- Netflix – $10,000 lifetime allowance for travel reimbursement for full-time employees and their dependents who need to travel for healthcare including abortion and gender-affirming care. [Source]
- Paramount – “Certain related travel expenses” will be covered for employees if the covered health service is prohibited in their area. [Source]
- Riot Games – Support for employees seeking out of state travel costs and potential relocation services.
- Sony – Travel reimbursement if required to access reproductive healthcare services available under its health plan. [Source]
- Sundance Film Festival and Sundance Institute – Employee healthcare benefits to include covering travel expenses for services not available where employee resides. [Source]
- United Talent Agency – Reimbursement for travel expenses for reproductive health services not accessible in an employee’s state of residence. [Source]
- Warner Bros. Discovery – Has expanded employee healthcare to cover financial support for abortion services. [Source]
Additional resources:
- Abortion on Our Own Terms: Educational support regarding abortion care and legal information.
- Apiary: Connecting and providing infrastructure support for abortion funds and other practical support organizations.
- ARC Southeast: Supporting funding and logistics for those in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee.
- The Brigid Alliance: Booking, coordinating, and paying for travel, travel expenses, and child care for those seeking access to an abortion provider.
- Exhale Pro-Voice: Text line for nonjudgmental after-abortion support.
- Fund Texas Choice: Pays for Texans’ travel to abortion clinics.
- I Need an A: Providing simple, up-to-date, localized information for people seeking abortions.
- Midwest Access Coalition: Helping with travel coordination and costs, lodging, food, medicine, and emotional support for people in the Midwest.
- Northwest Abortion Access Fund: Supporting access, travel, and lodging for those seeking abortion care in Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Alaska.
Don’t Turn Away
Last month, WIF was honored to host a community screening of HAPPENING, Audrey Diwan‘s devastating, visceral depiction of one young woman’s abortion experience in 1960s France, when that fundamental right was not yet legal in the country. The film is an unflinching look at the incomprehensible lengths that pregnant people must traverse to exercise autonomy over their own bodies. HAPPENING unfolds at an uncomfortably close distance, sometimes, and it refuses to allow viewers the luxury of turning away: turning away from the physical reality of an unwanted pregnancy and its termination, and turning away from the social and cultural burdens that leave so many trapped.
Now more than ever, we must confront those forces that seek to deny pregnant people control over their lives, their bodies, their very selves. We uplift the work of Audrey Diwan and other filmmakers who have told these stories. If you missed some of our past conversations about abortion and reproductive justice, please check them out now: