by Lizzy Hermosilla ‘23

In May 2021, Texas enacted the strictest abortion law in the nation. In September, the Supreme Court declined to review the Texas law that would ban all abortions after the heart beat can be heard, around six weeks, which is before many women know they are pregnant. The law has no exceptions in cases of rape and incest. As a result of this stark new reality for many permanent residents of Texas, David Simon, renowned writer, journalist and producer, has halted production on an upcoming HBO mini series set to film in Texas in solidarity with female cast and crew members.

Simon was set to begin filming a non-fiction mini series based on events in Texas, in the Dallas/Fortworth area in the coming months. However, he ended up suspending filming in Texas because of the radical abortion ban passed earlier in 2021. On September 20, he took to Twitter establishing his reasons for pulling the series. ”This is beyond politics. I’m turning in scripts next month on an HBO non-fiction miniseries based on events in Texas, but I can’t and won’t ask female cast/crew to forgo civil liberties to film there. What else looks like Dallas/Ft. Worth?” 

Simon attended Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School and studied at the University of Maryland (UMD) where he was the editor of The Diamondback. After graduating from UMD, he wrote for the Baltimore Sun and covered the crime beat for 13 years. Simon admired journalism saying it was “god’s work” but ultimately left the news room to write his first book. His extensive crime knowledge led Simon to write many books such as A Homicide: A Year on the Killing Streets. 

After the success of A Homicide: Life on the Street, the novel was picked up and made into a seven-season series on NBC from 1993-1999. After the end of the fifth season, Simon left the show and moved onto a new project on HBO, The Corner. Simon is most known for the HBO series The Wire where he was the creator, head writer, and executive producer. The show in season 1 follows a task force assembled by the Baltimore Police Department to investigate a local drug kingpin suspected of multiple homicides. The Wire ended after five seasons, but Simon continued to work in tandem with HBO to produce more TV series. His latest project was an adaptation of Philip Roth’s novel, The Plot Against America. The six-part mini series premiered on March 16, 2020, and followed a working class Jewish family during World War II as Charles Lindbergh became president and the country leaned more toward fascism.