California Senator Kamala Harris compared Margaret Atwood’s novel and Hulu series, “The Handmaid’s Tale” to the Alabama abortion law.
What We Know:
- Harris was among the many Democrats who expressed outrage about the passage of a near-total abortion ban in Alabama.
- In response to the ban, Harris urged people to donate to the National Network of Abortion Funds, an organization that helps women locate affordable abortion services.
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The senator sent out an email saying “Threatening to punish doctors who provide abortion care with up to 99 years of jail time – this isn’t a scene from The Handmaid’s Tale. This is happening in Alabama — in our country — in the year 2019.”
- The novel turned series, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” is set in a future time in the United States where war and climate change have destroyed all resources and women essentially have no rights. The story features a totalitarian government replacing democracy and ruling its citizens using force and different economic and physiological ranks for the women based on fertility. The new government imposes strict regulations on its citizens, under the guise of repopulating the country and serving God.
- In “The Handmaid’s Tale,” where reproduction is a woman’s sole purpose, anyone attempting or aiding an abortion is hung and put on display. Harris’ comment expressed her disbelief in the serious consequences that doctors will face if they provided an illegal abortion in Alabama.
Whether you agree or disagree with the law, one must acknowledge that it strips women of their autonomy. If you have read the book or seen the show, you can probably spot how this ban parallels Margaret Atwood’s fictional story.
