The same group that plans protests at the homes of Republican-appointed Supreme Court justices in favor of abortion rights now wants to take the protests to Mother’s Day church services.
In a tweet from “Ruth Sent Us” — “Ruth” being a reference to the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg — they encouraged their followers to protest at church services this Sunday with (sigh) outfits from the television adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
The move is the latest viral intimidation moment that’s emerged from the left since Politico first leaked a draft opinion in a Mississippi abortion case that would overturn Roe v. Wade and send the issue of abortion back to the states.
(Here at The Western Journal, we’ve been chronicling how the woke mob has tried to intimidate both the Supreme Court and Congress since the draft opinion was leaked — and how that was likely the intention behind leaking it in the first place. We’ll continue to keep the left accountable for their dangerous mob-rule tactics. You can help us by subscribing.)
In a Tuesday tweet from Ruth Sent Us, they shared a TikTok video that purported to be of a church protest during mass. The women were in full “Handmaid’s Tale” cosplay regalia.
“There are calls for a #MothersDayStrike. We support it, along with @StrikeForChoice who’s planning a day of walk-outs on Thu May 12. #DefendRoe,” they tweeted, along with the video. “This is what Mother’s Day should look like. Catholic and Evangelical Churches nationwide.”
There are calls for a #MothersDayStrike. We support it, along with @StrikeForChoice who’s planning a day of walk-outs on Thu May 12. #DefendRoe
This is what Mother’s Day should look like. Catholic and Evangelical Churches nationwide: pic.twitter.com/BxvGhBGodn
— Ruth Sent Us ? (@RuthSentUs) May 3, 2022
“I would do this again. I would,” the woman says in voiceover. “I left feeling like, ‘Oh, I could do this again.’”
Should Roe v. Wade be overturned?
“For 200 years, the Catholic Church has been an instrument for the enslavement of women!” the protesters could be heard screaming at the end of the clip.
Later on Tuesday, the group shared a second video in a tweet that was more overtly Catholic-baiting, becoming the latest entity on the left to tacitly link the conservative justices’ religion with their interpretation of the Constitution.
“Whether you’re a ‘Catholic for Choice’, ex-Catholic, of other or no faith, recognize that six extremist Catholics set out to overturn Roe,” they tweeted. “Stand at or in a local Catholic Church Sun May 8. #WarOnWomen #MothersDayStrike.”
Whether you’re a “Catholic for Choice”, ex-Catholic, of other or no faith, recognize that six extremist Catholics set out to overturn Roe. Stand at or in a local Catholic Church Sun May 8. #WarOnWomen #MothersDayStrike pic.twitter.com/v2vtpd12Gp
— Ruth Sent Us ? (@RuthSentUs) May 3, 2022
“Without this basic right, women can’t be free!” the women in the clip chanted, again in a Catholic church. “Abortion on demand and without apology!”
“Do you dare to chant in your local churches?” the text in the clip read. “Comment below, we’ll send you safety tips.”
And let’s not forget, Ruth Sent Us isn’t the only pro-abortion group recommending protesting at church services on Mother’s Day as a way to oppose the purported overturning of Roe v. Wade.
As Fox News noted, the organization Rise Up 4 Abortion Rights has a “week of action” scheduled beginning Sunday, with what it called “Actions Outside of Churches.”
“This action is called for by a collective of spanish [sic] speaking women’s rights groups + activists across the country, including from Bride’s March, Dominican Women’s Development Center, Ni Una Menus, and Las 17,” the group’s website read.
“Several cities will be hosting protests outside of prominent churches in their towns, these can look like a group of people holding signs wearing Handmaids Tale outfits, passing out flyers outside to church goers or doing a die-in.”
In case you’re unfamiliar with it, “The Handmaid’s Tale” is a 1985 dystopian novel in which a fascist patriarchy has overthrown the government of the United States and forces a class of “handmaids” into breeding. (The book identifies the handmaids as women, but Margaret Atwood isn’t a biologist, so this was some pretty judgmental thinking on her part.)
Since almost no one who engages in these protests evinces the kind of mindset conducive to sitting through a 300-page book, however, they all tend to adopt the outfit used for the handmaids in the 2017 Hulu adaptation of the series.
However, the use of “The Handmaid’s Tale” garb in this case isn’t just problematic because it hyperbolically compares the end of Roe v. Wade with the dystopian Republic of Gilead described in the novel and series.
During Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination process to the Supreme Court, comparisons to the work were also used by the left as a religious dog-whistle; Barrett is reportedly a member of a religiously conservative, majority-Catholic charismatic group called People of Praise, which used the term “handmaid” for female leaders until 2018.
Unless you’re blindingly ignorant about Christianity, this is because the Bible refers to Mary, mother of Jesus, as “the handmaid of the Lord.” However, Barrett’s Catholic faith — like the Catholic faith of other judges and Supreme Court justices appointed by Republicans — has been the subject of not-so-subtle dog-whistling from Democrats. Remember, California Democrat Sen. Dianne Feinstein infamously told Barrett “the dogma lives loudly within you” during her 2017 nomination hearings to the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals.
“The dogma lives loudly within you.”
— Sen. Dianne Feinstein to Amy Coney Barrett, Sept. 6, 2017, nomination hearing for Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals. pic.twitter.com/WpaWa8F809
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) September 21, 2020
That’s just one reason why the targeting of Mother’s Day mass by activists wearing “Handmaid’s Tale” garb by Ruth Sent Us — a group that seems so unusually fixated on the Roman Catholic faith that one is halfway surprised they haven’t just come out and called Barrett and the other Catholic justices “conniving papists bowing to Rome” — is problematic.
There’s also the fact that this is the group that posted a Google Map with pins purporting to be at or around the residences of the six Republican-appointed justices on the court for a “Walk-By Wednesday” protest this coming week.
After this received some negative coverage, the group claimed the map was “created without using their addresses. You can tell which street and sometimes which town, but not the address.”
Try again. It doesn’t have their addresses.
— Ruth Sent Us ? (@RuthSentUs) May 5, 2022
Nope. The pins were created without using their addresses. You can tell which street and sometimes which town, but not the address. pic.twitter.com/wzJBKYddIV
— Ruth Sent Us ? (@RuthSentUs) May 5, 2022
This was already a weaselly excuse for potentially sending an extremist mob after the justices who reportedly voted to strike Roe v. Wade down. Potentially sending them into any church in America — and making Roman Catholicism an especial target — is another level of crazy entirely. Even if an act of violence doesn’t precipitate out of this, it’s not hard for a casual observer to see how it could, making the aims of the protests profoundly counterproductive.
Speaking of counter-productivity, there’s the date it’s occurring on: Mother’s Day. As in, the day on which people who were blessed enough not to have been killed in the womb will give Mom a call. If they’re women who chose to give birth, maybe they’ll get a call, or perhaps a hand-drawn card from their son or daughter. At the very least, they’ll remind everyone they had a mother, one who didn’t abort them.
On a day and in a venue where their message couldn’t be appreciated less, Ruth Sent Us wants to win hearts and minds by disrupting church services. This isn’t just stupid, it’s dangerous. It’s time for the left to step up and disavow anyone who suggests these tactics as an appropriate course of action.
