Women Dress Like Handmaids in Court to Protest Anti-Abortion Bill

Yesterday's Ohio Senate Committee hearing on a proposed new anti-abortion law for the state was attended by some unexpected visitors: several women dressed head-to-toe in blood red garb and bonnets a la The Handmaid's Tale.

The costume is the identifying outfit of a "Handmaid" in Margarat Atwood's novel-turned-Hulu-sensation--a rare fertile woman made to carry children for their male "commanders."

The Ohio Senate Bill 145 bans "dilation & evacuation" abortions, which is by far the most safe and common means of receiving an abortion in the second-trimester. This Bill would ultimately criminalize the termination of a pregnancy after the first trimester. The law comes in the wake of Texas passing a similar bill that also calls for mandatory "fetal funerals."

Related | Texas Passes Bill Requiring Women to Hold Funerals For Their Abortions

Throughout the hearing, the Handmaids remained silent, letting their costumes do the talking. "You can't do anything to kick them out," Vashitta Johnson, Field and Political Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio, told Dazed. "They're not doing anything to interrupt the committee; they're not posing a threat to anyone."

While the court banned filming of its hearing, images of the protesting women have gone viral this week: