On Friday, the pro-abortion group UltraViolet sponsored an airplane banner protesting Georgia’s bill to ban abortion in the cases where a baby’s heartbeat can be detected. UltraViolet did not urge Gov. Brian Kemp (R-Ga.) not to sign the bill, H.B. 481, which has already passed both branches of the Georgia legislature. Instead, the liberal group asked Netflix to stop filming in the state until the bill is defeated.
“NETFLIX: PROTECT WOMEN. STOP FILMING IN GEORGIA,” the plane banner read. UltraVoilet sponsored the banner to fly over Netflix’s headquarters in Los Gatos, Calif., on Friday.
Closer look at the plane banner that flew over @Netflix today, urging the company to support Georgia women and stop filming in the state until Georgia’s dangerous abortion ban, #HB481, is vetoed or repealed. #HB481isBadforBusiness pic.twitter.com/8cvISBZaT3
— UltraViolet (@UltraViolet) April 12, 2019
“Women’s health care decisions should be made between them and their doctor, not politicians who are hellbent on enforcing their extreme ideological agendas on us,” Shaunna Thomas, co-founder and executive director of UltraViolet, said in a statement. “Georgia has the highest rate of maternal deaths in the country. More women will die if this bill is enacted.”
“If Governor Kemp signs this inhumane ban into law, any company that does business in Georgia will be complicit in supporting a radical anti-woman agenda designed to restrict a woman’s access to constitutionally-protected health care,” Thomas argued.
Does this mean any company that does business in New York is complicit in that state’s abortion regime?
“Netflix brings millions of dollars to Georgia each year by filming in the state, and the streaming giant needs to use its power in the state to speak out for Georgia women, and the hundreds of women who work on Netflix productions, who will be impacted by this cruel and immoral abortion ban,” the UltraViolet co-founder added. “Netflix has a history of speaking up against bad laws passed where they film — in fact Netflix continues to boycott North Carolina over its anti-trans bathroom bill — and now they need to do the same in Georgia.”
Contrary to Thomas’ suggestions, it is neither “cruel” nor “immoral” to protect the lives of the unborn, who from the moment of conception have unique and individual DNA. This bill protects unborn babies who have a detectable heartbeat.
Corporations like Netflix should not become weapons of the left to silence conservative ideas or policy. Rather than listening to UltraViolet and cutting off Georgia as well as North Carolina, the company should reconsider its stance on the Tar Heel State’s bathroom bill.
Radical feminists have joined conservatives in opposing pro-transgender laws and policies. While bills like the Equality Act are well-intentioned, they would remove the rights of women and girls to sex-segregated spaces — a vital right when biological men have abused women in private spaces and when biological men have inherent advantages over them in many sports.
Netflix is already sending a perverse signal by refusing to do business in North Carolina. It should not become even more political by cutting off Georgia as well.
Kemp has until May 5 to sign the heartbeat bill, which he has already pledged to do.
Follow Tyler O’Neil, the author of this article, on Twitter at @Tyler2ONeil.
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