AceShowbiz - Bette Midler has called on American women to refuse to have sex to protest Texas' controversially restrictive new abortion laws.

The "Wings Beneath My Wings" hitmaker is furious about the new Senate Bill 8, which prevent women terminating a pregnancy after six weeks - before most people know they are pregnant - and has no exceptions for those which occur as a result of rape or incest.

It also allows private citizens to sue officials at facilities suspected of carrying out the procedures - and those who drive them there, including rideshare employees at Lyft and Uber.

Last week (ends03Sep21), Bette tweeted, "I suggest that all women refuse to have sex with men until they are guaranteed the right to choose by Congress. This isn't about guns, speech, money or war. It's about women, their lives, their bodies, and their autonomy."

"That's what allowed the court to do shoddy work, with careless disregard, because who's going to stop it? They only did the thing in the dead of night, without care or effort, because they believe women are so used to being gaslit that of course, they'll just tolerate it."

Nancy Sinatra, the daughter of singer Frank Sinatra, responded, "My dad actually suggested that decades ago," while former "Glee" star Jane Lynch replied, "Lysistrata for modern times," referring to the ancient Greek comedy, in which women sought to end the Peloponnesian War by denying sex to men.

Midler also pointed out the laws unfairly target women of colour.

"Why do #antivaxxers and #antimaskers get to live the 'my body, my choice' life, but pregnant women are not allowed to? How is this fair?" she raged. "Some say it's Texas' way of keeping black and brown women poor. I say it's also because they want WHITE women to keep replenishing the stock (sic)."

As of press time on Monday (06Sep21), Bette's tweet has received 108,000 likes and 22,200 retweets.