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‘The Handmaid’s Tale’-Themed Protesters Shame Republicans on Behalf of Planned Parenthood

Planned Parenthood staged a demonstration inspired by the Hulu series outside the Capitol to protest the Senate's health care bill.
The Handmaid's Tale Protesters Shame Republicans at the Capitol
@TaylorLorenz‏ via Twitter

Planned Parenthood held a demonstration inspired by Hulu‘s “The Handmaid’s Tale” in Washington D.C. on Tuesday, with demonstrators dressed in red cloaks and white bonnets to protest the Senate’s proposed health care legislation. Republicans on Tuesday delayed a vote for the bill, which would defund Planned Parenthood for one year and prevent women from using federal tax credits to buy insurance plans covering abortion services.

READ MORE: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’: Intriguing Season 2 Secrets Revealed After Brutal Season Finale

Based on the novel by Margaret Atwood, “The Handmaid’s Tale” revolves around a woman named Offred (Elisabeth Moss), one of the few fertile women left in Gilead, a dystopia where the birth rate is dangerously low and women no longer have rights. Offred is therefore a “vessel” for the Commander (Joseph Fiennes) and his wife (Yvonne Strahovski), but clings to her past, when she was a free woman with a husband (O. T. Fagbenle) and daughter (Jordana Blake), both of whom she’s since lost.

Tuesday was not the first time “The Handmaid’s Tale” was cited in criticizing Republicans’ efforts to repeal the Affordable Care Act. During her speech at the Planned Parenthood Gala in New York last month, Hillary Clinton referenced the series while making a speech about the effort to pass the American Health Care Act.

“The show has prompted important conversation about women’s rights and autonomy,” Clinton said. “In ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ women’s rights are gradually, slowly stripped away…Let’s respect people’s convictions, but never back down from our commitment to defend the ability of every woman to make these deeply personal decisions for herself.”

READ MORE: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ Finale Review: How ‘Night’ Echoed the Past While Making Us Crave the Future

“As one character says, ‘We didn’t look up from our phones until it was too late,’” Clinton said. “It is not too late for us, but we have to encourage the millions of women and men who support Planned Parenthood’s mission to keep fighting. To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, we can never let them grind us down.”

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