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Hollywood to boycott Georgia over new abortion law

This article is more than 12 months old

LOS ANGELES The recent love affair between Hollywood producers and the US state of Georgia is suddenly in jeopardy.

A strict new abortion law has prompted calls not only for a boycott of filming there - but for a sex strike.

Stars led by actress-activist Alyssa Milano, including Alec Baldwin, Don Cheadle, Ben Stiller, Mia Farrow and Amy Schumer, had threatened in March to refuse to work in Georgia if it adopted the new abortion restrictions.

But Republican governor Brian Kemp signed the Bill into law last week.

Film and TV production companies have pledged to boycott the state unless the legislation - which bans abortion as soon as a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally in the sixth week of pregnancy - is rescinded.

Milano had said she would fight "tooth and nail" for her Netflix series Insatiable to stop filming in Georgia.

She even urged women to join her in a sex boycott until the law was repealed.

"Join me by not having sex until we get bodily autonomy back," she wrote on Twitter.

"Protect your vaginas, ladies. Men in positions of power are trying to legislate them. #SexStrike"

Though her idea earned some praise on social media, including from actress Bette Midler, and #Sexstrike trended on Twitter for a while, the idea also earned scorn.

Liberals accused her of pushing the idea that women have sex to make men happy, which she denied, while conservatives mercilessly trolled her.

Blockbusters such as Avengers: Infinity War and TV series including The Walking Dead have been shot in Georgia.

Last year, more than 450 productions spent US$2.7 billion (S$3.7 billion) there.- AFP

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