Handsmaid Tale protestors in Ohio Statehouse rotunda. pic.twitter.com/PqhS9e0zOF
— Jo Ingles (@joingles) June 13, 2017
Over the weekend, Hulu sent women dressed as Handmaids out into Los Angeles in a live, awesomely creepy Emmy campaign. This wasn’t the first time they’ve enlisted roaming advertising. They’ve sent Handmaids into the streets before, maybe most notably in Austin during SXSW just before the show first aired. Given how very realistic the show feels to most viewers, seeing these silent women in red walking through the world, is jarring and disturbing, but super engaging: no doubt, just what Hulu is going for.
Today, though, a group of Handmaids entered the Ohio Statehouse, for reasons that had nothing to do with marketing or Emmys. They’re there with NARAL Pro-Choice to silently sit in protest of the hearing on Senate Bill 145, the “Dismemberment Abortion Ban.”
SB 145 will ban the most commonly used abortion procedure in the 2nd trimester. #OHHandmaids are here to show the impact of abortion bans pic.twitter.com/GxwvM7l24j
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
Ohio legislators have passed a number of anti-abortion bills recently, including a fetal heartbeat bill that was vetoed by the governor. (That bill would have banned abortions after about six weeks. Another bill, which he signed off on, outlaws abortions after 20 weeks.)SB 145 would ban abortion by dilation and evacuation, the most commonly used abortion method after the first trimester. According to rep in a video
SB 145 would ban abortion by dilation and evacuation, the most commonly used abortion method after the first trimester. According to a rep in a video of the protest streamed on Facebook Live earlier today, this method is used in 95% of second-trimester abortions nationwide. Of the 21,000 abortions performed in Ohio last year, 3,000 were done using this method. In addition to targeting women, the bill would punish doctors with up to 18 months in prison, and makes no exception for cases of rape or incest.
Sponsor says SB 145 has a health exception, but the only exception is when she is so sick to cause permanent organ damage. #OHHandmaids
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
What clearer, more timely visual, then, than these women from an all-too-realistic dystopia in which reproductive rights are a thing of the past? (Remember, we saw a similar protest in Texas last month.)
The sponsors of the method ban testifying, surrounded by #OHHandmaids pic.twitter.com/qm2WJA09Xf
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
The women sat there while the bill’s sponsors (two white male senators, with six more white men and one woman co-sponsoring) testified that women need legislation to keep them safe from themselves.
The #OhioHandmaids waiting silently as the state considers the next plan to force women to give birth against their wishes or medical advice pic.twitter.com/pGBBBlK9rO
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
Sponsor says medical professionals don’t have the right to determine what procedures are best for their patients, legislators do. Um, what?
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
Sponsor says that spending money to “save lives” is important but they are the same people who slash funding for Medicaid. #OHHandmaids
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
When asked if they have talked to medical associations the sponsor said that they talked with Ohio Right to Life. #NotAHealthProfessional
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
Formerly #prolife Sen. Thomas asks about exception for fetal anomalies. Sen. Huffman defends babies w/disabilities as equally valuable.
— Ohio Right to Life (@ohiolife) June 13, 2017
Bill sponsor is now taking about how we need to ban abortions so women think more about their decision. How condescending can we get?
— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017
“We have to do something about this procedure” – two white men wanting to control your reproduction. pic.twitter.com/WmCjfjEQlY
— Planned Parenthood (@PPAOhio) June 13, 2017
We talk about how “real” The Handmaid’s Tale feels right now–both the Hulu series and Margaret Atwood’s novel–and this is why. Groups of men discussing how best to use and restrict our bodies, forcing women to give birth no matter the circumstances, taking both women and health professionals out of the conversation about women’s health: these are terrifying things happening right now. Since these men essentially want to resign women to the position of silent sexual surrogate, the Handmaid is, unfortunately, the perfect chilling, depressing, silent face for the resistance.
(featured image: Daniel X. O’Neil/Flickr)
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