This is why pro-choice advocates wore costumes inspired by “The Handmaid’s Tale” to the Texas Senate

Remember when we read dystopian novels and thought, “I can’t imagine living in a world like that?” Me too, but that memory is fading fast — and, in their latest move, activists used a depressingly relevant book as their inspiration for a protest. A group of protestors wore costumes inspired by The Handmaid’s Tale to the gallery of the Texas Senate to express their opposition to a bill that would ban the safest, most common method of second-trimester abortions.

The Margaret Atwood novel, which will debut on Hulu as a miniseries next month, takes place in a version of the United States that has been overtaken by a military dictatorship lead by Christian fundamentalists.

Their main goal? To take away women’s rights and force them into reproductive subservience.

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The attire donned by the protestors is a nod to the crimson robes and white bonnets the handmaids wear. After a disease sterilizes most of the population, the handmaids are forced to carry the next generation of humans — and they have no say in the matter.

Dystopian novels shouldn’t hit close to home, but the Texas abortion bill comes pretty close.

"A person may not intentionally perform a dismemberment abortion unless the dismemberment abortion is necessary in a medical emergency," an excerpt from the bill reads.

The bill poses a major danger because it forces women to become sicker before they can get a medically necessary abortion.

In some cases, a woman must be on the verge of a coma before a doctor can legally perform an abortion.

"This measure would prevent doctors from using their best medical judgment when treating their patients and would put patients’ health, safety, and lives at risk. Every woman’s pregnancy experience is different, and doctors need all options available to treat their individual patients. Politicians should leave the practice of medicine to physicians," NARAL Pro-Choice Texas stated.

On Monday, the Texas Senate voted 21-9 in favor of the bill and it will now go to the state House.

In 2017, fact often seems stranger than fiction — and, in this case, it mirrors a fictional dystopia in a seriously frightening way.