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Women stage ‘Handmaid’s Tale’-inspired protest outside Capitol

by Taylor Lorenz - 06/27/17 2:30 PM ET

A crowd of 30 Planned Parenthood volunteers dressed as women from “The Handmaid’s Tale” descended on the Capitol building Tuesday in protest against the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill.

Fern Whyland, communications director at Planned Parenthood Empire State Acts, said the bill would “devastate” women.

“It would be the worst bill for women in generations and decimate women’s healthcare. It’s a healthcare bill with no healthcare,” she said.

This protest was staged by Planned Parenthood to protest the GOP healthcare bill pic.twitter.com/zIcaYjo9GD

— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) June 27, 2017

{mosads}The protesters traveled to Washington, D.C., from New York today to kick off the People’s Filibuster, a Planned Parenthood co-organized series of speeches by patients and advocates who are against the Senate GOP’s healthcare bill, the Better Care Reconciliation Act.

“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,” Elena Lipsiea, one of the volunteers dressed as a handmaid said.

She said that they demonstrated at the New York State Capitol last year in similar costumes and may have similar protests planned for the future.

In Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which was adapted into a TV series this year by Hulu, women known as “handmaids” are kept for reproductive purposes and forced to dress in a uniform to designate their role in society.