How the handmaid became an international protest symbol

in womenrights •  6 years ago 

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Dozens of women march in silence through a rainy cityscape. Heads bowed, dressed in red cloaks and white bonnets, it looks like a scene from Gilead, the theocratic patriarchy Margaret Atwood created in dystopian 1985 novel The Handmaid's Tale.
But this is Buenos Aires. It is Wednesday, and the women involved are calling for abortion to be decriminalised in a country where complications arising from illegal abortion are a leading cause of maternal death.
When they reach the Congress building in Argentina's capital, an activist reads a letter from Atwood herself, according to the Associated Press.
"Nobody likes abortion, even when safe and legal," the Canadian author had written.
"But nobody likes women bleeding to death on the bathroom floor from illegal abortions.

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