Some 30 “handmaids” of Planned Parenthood protested in front of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Tuesday to support the nation’s largest abortion provider against efforts to eliminate its taxpayer funding.
The volunteers were dressed as women from Hulu’s television production of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s 1985 dystopian feminist novel about a totalitarian theocracy that forces women to procreate.
https://twitter.com/TaylorLorenz/status/879762656432992256
Fern Whyland, communications director at Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, said the Republican Obamacare replacement bill would “devastate” women.
“It would be the worst bill for women in generations and decimate women’s healthcare,” she said, reports The Hill. “It’s a healthcare bill with no healthcare.”
Planned Parenthood’s “handmaids” were part of an event organized by the abortion vendor and titled “The People’s Filibuster.”
“Dressing up as a handmaid gives a clear message to our administration and the Senate about how seriously we take their decisions and how radically it can affect our lives,” said one handmaid, Elena Lipsiea.
Upon receiving Planned Parenthood’s “champion of the century” award in May, former Democrat presidential nominee Hillary Clinton cited the novel.
“To paraphrase Margaret Atwood, ‘We can never let them grind us down,’” Clinton said. “In The Handmaid’s Tale, women’s rights are gradually, slowly stripped away. As one character says, ‘We didn’t look up from our phones until it was too late.’”
“It is not too late for us,” Clinton added. “But we have to encourage the millions of women and men who support Planned Parenthood to keep fighting.”
Planned Parenthood’s own recently released annual report shows its profits, taxpayer funding, and number of abortions performed have all increased over the past year. However, many of the organization’s non-abortion services – such as contraception, cancer screenings, and prenatal services – have decreased over the same period. Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood is advertising itself as a “healthcare provider,” and its president, Cecile Richards, has testified before Congress that, “abortion is healthcare.”
Senate Republicans have delayed a vote on their Obamacare replacement bill until after the July 4 recess.
Planned Parenthood tweeted its thanks to Republican Sen. Susan Collins, a vocal opponent of the provision of the GOP healthcare bill that would eliminate the organization’s taxpayer funding for one year.
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