ON POLITICS

'Handmaid's Tale' demonstrators head to the Capitol

Sean Rossman
USA TODAY
On June 13, women dressed in character from the dystopian novel "The Handmaid's Tale" stage a protest in the Ohio Statehouse Rotunda.

The red robes and white bonnets that highlight the heaviness of the Hulu drama The Handmaid's Tale has officially entered the national health care debate.

Dozens of people wearing the grim get-up walked two-by-two outside the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, as senators battle over GOP lawmakers' proposed health care bill.

Capitol Hill reporters snapped photos and videos of the crew outside the Capitol and of them gathering near a rally opposing the measure. The Hill reported the group consisted of 30 Planned Parent volunteers who were — you guessed it — staging a protest of the health care bill.

It wasn't the first time the show, based on a feminist novel by Margaret Atwood, was drawn into the political fray. The show's first trailers sparked a political discussion over whether it was a predictor of a Trumpian dystopia or anti-Trump propaganda.

Earlier this year, demonstrators dressed in handmaid's red and white protested abortion bills in Texas and Ohio.

If you haven't seen it, the show features a society in which enslaved women are sorted into wives, housekeepers and breeders known as "handmaids." The handmaids wear the cloak and bonnet.

The group seems to be using the show as a way to highlight the effects of the bill, which would leave 22 million Americans without insurance by 2026. It also affects abortion coverage, insurance subsidies and cuts funding to Planned Parenthood for one year.

One of the protestors told The Hill, "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." 

 No Senate Democrat will vote for the bill and five Republicans vowed to do the same. Without the votes to pass the measure, Senate Republican leaders decided Tuesday to delay the vote until after July 4 holiday.

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