White House hopeful Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI) praised Hollywood’s fierce opposition to Georgia’s “heartbeat” anti-abortion law on Monday, saying it’s “important” that stars such as actress Alyssa Milano protest it.
Speaking with TMZ, Gabbard said Milano was “shining a light” on the recently-passed law, calling it “clearly unconstitutional.”
“I think it’s important that people like Alyssa Milano and others and others in Hollywood are speaking through their example, their actions, their business decisions in protesting that law that passed.”
Milano ignited social media with a tweet Friday night calling for women to join her in a sex strike to protest strict abortion bans passed in several states.
The former star of Charmed and current cast member of Insatiable, which is filmed in Georgia, urged women in her tweet to stop having sex “until we get bodily autonomy back.” Her tweet came days after Georgia became the fourth state in the U.S. this year to ban abortions once a fetal heartbeat is detected, which can be as early as six weeks, before many women know they are pregnant.
“We need to understand how dire the situation is across the country,” Milano told The Associated Press on Saturday. “It’s reminding people that we have control over our own bodies and how we use them.”
Milano received support from fans and fellow actress Bette Midler joined her in also calling for a sex strike with her own tweet.
But both liberals and conservatives also lampooned her idea, with conservatives praising her for promoting abstinence and liberals saying she was pushing a false narrative that women only have sex as a favor to men.
Milano said the criticism didn’t bother her and that her tweet was having her desired effect, “which is getting people to talk about the war on women.”
She said she fears one of the laws could eventually be decided by the conservative-leaning U.S. Supreme Court, which Republicans hope will overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion.
“That is absolutely horrifying to me,” Milano said. “Anyone who is not completely and totally outraged by this and doesn’t see where this is leading, I think is not taking this threat seriously.”
Milano said people have to determine for themselves how long the sex strike should last. For her part, she hasn’t decided yet how long she will forgo sex.
“I mean I don’t know,” she said. “I sent a tweet last night I haven’t really thought much past that this morning.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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