After Alabama voted for a near-total ban on abortion, the title of Margaret Atwood’s novel "The Handmaid’s Tale" began trending on social media, with many opponents drawing comparisons to the dystopian classic.
The state's Republican-dominated Senate voted 25-6 for the bill, which, if approved by its governor, would become the country’s most stringent law on abortion.
The bill would block abortions in the event of rape and incest, and features an exception only for when the health of the person carrying the fetus is at serious risk
Google searches in the United States for 'Handmaid's Tale' after Alabama banned abortion in almost all circumstances pic.twitter.com/0i8Nd0lapu
— Stephen Jones (@SteveJonesPA) May 15, 2019
Within hours, Google searches for "The Handmaid’s Tale" were up and many took to Twitter to make comparisons with the book, which was recently dramatized in the popular TV series.
The story focuses on an imagined future when an authoritarian government named Gilead attains control of the former United States. With fertility rates falling, those women able to conceive become Handmaids, forced to submit to ritualized rape to bear children for "powerful" men and their wives.
Writer Caitlin Moran shared an image of the 22 male senators who voted against an exception for rape or incest, adding: “Gilead is being brought to you by the following people.”
Gilead is being brought to you by the following people: https://t.co/LrUT6dkbp7
— Caitlin Moran (@caitlinmoran) May 15, 2019
Similarly, lawyer Dr. Ann Olivarius posted: “They all read The Handmaid’s Tale and thought it was a set of instructions?”
They all read The Handmaid's Tale and thought it was a set of instructions? https://t.co/WyaMW78IIw
— Dr. Ann Olivarius (@AnnOlivarius) May 15, 2019
Emmy Bengston, a communications worker for Democratic presidential hopeful Kirsten Gillibrand tweeted a picture showing “Alabama” trending on Twitter, alongside a host of sport-related topics.
Along with it, she wrote: “I keep thinking about the flashback scene in Handmaid’s Tale when the women characters lose their jobs and bank accounts and instinctively know what it means and what’s coming, and most people – especially the men – are kind of oblivious and don’t take it seriously.”
I keep thinking about the flashback scene in Handmaid's Tale when the women characters lose their jobs and bank accounts and instinctively know what it means and what's coming, and most people—especially the men—are kind of oblivious and don't take it seriously. Anyway, pic.twitter.com/E8sABiMMKk
— Emmy Bengtson (@EmmyA2) May 15, 2019
Representative Terri Collins, the bill’s sponsor, said the bill recognized the “baby in the womb is a person”. The Republican Senators said they are intentionally seeking a conflict with the 1973 landmark US Supreme Court decision Roe v. Wade, which legalized abortion nationally, as they hope it will lead to an effort to overturn it across all states.
Meanwhile, people in other countries are recognizing the danger of bills like the one in Alabama. British journalist Helen Lewis tweeted: "For anyone horrified by Alabama's proposed abortion ban, or calling it Gilead. Look closer to home! Northern Ireland does not permit abortions even in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality. The ONLY exception is endangerment to a woman's life."
For anyone horrified by Alabama’s proposed abortion ban, or calling it Gilead. Look closer to home! Northern Ireland does not permit abortions even in cases of rape, incest or fatal foetal abnormality. The ONLY exception is endangerment to a woman’s life.
— Helen Lewis (@helenlewis) May 15, 2019
Abortion laws in the Ireland are devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly, which has been suspended since 2017.
For anyone with questions of what this means, and where to find clinics and doctors to answer them, go to plannedparenthood.org/learn/abortion