While a knitted uterus is nice, defeating motion 312 would be even better.
Today, feminist pro-choice group Radical Handmaids are staging a protest on Parliament Hill to coincide with the vote on Conservative backbencher Stephen Woodworth’s anti-choice motion, which many see as an attempt to reopen the abortion debate.
“It’s important for us to be there today, while the vote is happening, to symbolically demonstrate to Parliament that we are watching. Regardless of whether or not this motion goes through, we intend to follow up with everyone who has voted yes in support of the motion,” Radical Handmaid co-founder Julie Lalonde says.
Pro-choice supporters across Canada have been knitting uteruses for quite some time yet didn’t know what to do with their femme fabrications. Radical Handmaids will accept the handmade protest pieces and send them along to anti-choice supporters.
Lalonde says the group was formed because she and her pro-choice friends wanted to make their voices heard in an unconventional way.
“We thought, let’s do something a little satirical, a little performance art to make fun of the ridiculousness of the whole thing. From there it turned into making fun of The Handmaid’s Tale and making fun of what some of these MPs are saying.”
If motion 312 is defeated, Lalonde says, it’s not the end of the Handmaids.
“We absolutely want to stick around and do pro-choice organizing. This is not the end of us, even if it is the end of motion 312.”
Visit the Handmaids’official site, Facebook and Twitter.
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