Just days after 100 actors, musicians and artists — including Reese Witherspoon and Kerry Washington — spoke out against the Texas law that, say opponents, effectively eliminates access to abortions in that state, bestselling author Don Winslow has taken up the banner and run with it.
Winslow has, for the past several years, been creating and posting powerful (and popular) videos that take aim at political hypocrisy. Winslow on Friday shared his latest, which highlights the savage effects the new law will have on some women. It had just under 2 million views in 24 hours.
Over a chant of “My body, my choice,” the video’s narrator lays out some stark first-person realities for women in Texas: “If I am beaten and raped in the state of Texas, I have to give birth to my rapist’s baby,” she begins. “If I am raped by my father, brother or uncle in the state of Texas,” she continues, “I have to give birth to the body of my family abuser.”
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Reese Witherspoon, Kerry Washington & Alyssa Milano Among More Than 100 Stars Expressing Outrage Over Texas Abortion LawThen come the legal consequences: “This new law is so draconian that I can be prosecuted for having an abortion and so can my doctors, family and friends who advise me or even the Uber driver who simply drives me to the clinic.”
The video winds to a close with a powerful list of affirmations, each of which begin with the same mantra:
“I am a woman, and I have a constitutional right to make decisions for my own body.”
“I am a woman, and I have a human right to refuse to give birth to my rapist’s baby.”
“I am a woman. This is my body.”
“I am a woman. This is the United States of America.”
“I am a woman. You do not own or control my mind or my body.”
The piece ends with three exhortations:
“Fight Now. Fight hard. Vote Republicans out.”
Winslow, a sometimes Deadline contributor, has a number of projects in the works. Sony Pictures and Elizabeth Gabler’s 3000 Pictures — a partnership between Sony and HarperCollins — acquired outright screen rights to his forthcoming City trilogy in June. Winslow’s Border Trilogy is set at FX; Satori is set up at Warner Bros with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Appian Way; The Force has James Mangold and Matt Damon attached at Disney, with a Scott Frank script; Winslow’s Neal Carey Series is set at MRC with Rian Johnson.
You can watch Winslow’s piece below.
**NEW** VIDEO #TexasWarOnWomen
Republicans are calling women's bodies "Host bodies"
Texas Republicans set up a website to stalk and report women, their families and the doctors who help them.
They are waging a war against women.
PLEASE RETWEET & QUOTE TWEET this video! pic.twitter.com/FMzVmOKADo
— Don Winslow (@donwinslow) September 3, 2021
