Originally posted Saturday, March 23, 2019 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
Actress Alyssa Milano is going after Georgia again on Twitter, this time over the “heartbeat” abortion bill passed by the Georgia state Senate Friday afternoon.
“There are over 20 productions shooting in GA” she wrote late Friday, “& the state just voted to strip women of their bodily autonomy. Hollywood! We should stop feeding GA economy.”
Milano ( “Charmed,” “Project Runway All Stars”) stars in Netflix’s dark pageant comedy “Insatiable,” which debuted last year. Season two is currently in production and she was on set Friday in Atlanta. She plays Coralee Huggens-Armstrong, the wife of lead Bob Armstrong, played by Dallas Roberts. She is under contract and her ability to walk out without facing legal penalty is probably limited.
Last November, after Brian Kemp became governor, defeating Stacey Abrams, Milano also called for Hollywood to pull out of Georgia, calling it a “totally corrupt state” that “suppresses democracy.”
A couple of other actors such as Bradley Whitford and Ron Perlman joined in but her effort died on the Twitter vine.
The generous 30 percent tax credit for TV and film production companies has remained enticing. Currently, 38 movies and TV shows are listed on the Georgia film office site including season 4 of OWN’s “Greenleaf,” the latest season of “The Real World” on Facebook Watch, “Jumanji 2” starring Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson, “Zombieland 2” with Emma Stone and Woody Harrelson.
Although many doctors and women’s rights groups are fighting the “heartbeat” bill, which would limit abortions once a doctor detects a heartbeat in a fetus (with some exceptions), the business community has largely stayed on the sidelines.
In comparison, in 2016, Hollywood production companies were vocally against a “religious liberty” bill which Gov. Nathan Deal ultimately did not sign.
Similar “heartbeat” bills have been held up in other states after legal challenges.
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