Opinion & Commentary
No Gilead
Abortion rights advocates won resounding victories in elections in Ohio, Kentucky, and Virginia on Nov. 7. Since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Americans have voted to uphold a woman's right to choose seven out of seven times in state ballot measures. To imagine life without that right, read about the fictional Gilead in Margaret Atwood's book, The Handmaid's Tale. What is your opinion?
When Canadian author Margaret Atwood was writing The Handmaid's Tale in the 1980s, she said her invented Gilead seemed far-fetched – a theocratic dictatorship where women were enslaved without rights. But not so after the Supreme Court's 2022 ruling. Her harrowing story of women as handmaids to high-ranking patriarchs was all too real.
Resources:
"I invented Gilead. The Supreme Court is making it real." [The Atlantic, May 13, 2022]
"Abortion Rights Advocates Win Major Victories in Ohio, Kentucky, Virginia" [Washington Post, Nov. 8, 2023]