'The Wire' creator says he will not shoot new HBO series in Texas following abortion ban

• "The Wire" creator David Simon said on Twitter he refuses to shoot a new HBO series in Texas.
• He said he was turning in a script based on events in Texas.
• Following the abortion ban law, he said he morally cannot ask female cast and crew to work there.

David Simon, creator of "The Wire," said on social media that he will not be allowing his new Texan HBO series to be filmed in Texas following the new Abortion ban law.

On Monday, Simon said on Twitter that he was turning in a script next month about an "HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas." HBO has not formally announced the series and Insider has reached out to its parent company, Warner Media, for comment.

Simon went on to say in the post: "I can't and won't ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there [Texas]. What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth?" Simon specified later that he particularly objected to the fact that filming there will remove full control for his female cast and crew of their "body and choice" in the event they do get pregnant. The post was linked with an article about Apple's facilities in Texas.

-David Simon (@AoDespair) September 20, 2021

The Dallas Film & Creative Industries Office was one of many critics who responded to the tweet. "Laws of a state are not reflective of its entire population," they wrote. "Not bringing a production to Dallas (a big "D") only serves to further disenfranchise those that live here. We need talent/crew/creatives to stay & vote, not get driven out by inability to make a living."

Simon stood his ground in his response saying: "You misunderstand completely. My response is NOT rooted in any debate about political efficacy or the utility of any boycott. My singular responsibility is to securing and maintaining the civil liberties of all those we employ during the course of a production."

-David Simon (@AoDespair) September 20, 2021

"The Wire" Creator continued later to another critic: "I don't anticipate anything other than that if even one of our employees requires full control of her own body and choices - and if a law denies this or further criminalizes our attempt to help her exercise that control, we should have filmed elsewhere."

-David Simon (@AoDespair) September 21, 2021

Simon is currently working on an HBO series called "We Own This City" based on a book with the same name by Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton. The series, according to HBO, looks at the corruption of the Baltimore Police Department, particularly its Gun Trace Task Force. The series stars multiple actors from Simon's previous series. "The Wire" and "The Deuce" and Jon Bernthal ("The Walking Dead").