One Utah woman called Donald Trump’s presidential campaign on Friday with a question: Where should she send her used tampons in case of a miscarriage? An Indiana woman called with a different query: Could she go swimming, or would the chlorine in the water be harmful to her unfertilized eggs? And a Colorado woman had a message for the campaign: She may have lost a couple hundred eggs just today.
The flood of calls, reported in comments on Facebook, are part of a social media push started by women in Indiana opposed to a restrictive abortion law passed earlier this year in Indiana that required the remains of a miscarried or aborted fetus to be buried or cremated.
In April, women began calling Governor Mike Pence’s office in protest. Now, with Trump’s announcement he has chosen Pence as his running mate, the “Periods for Pence” push is going national.
Trump's campaign HQ: 646-736-1779.
Let 'em hear those hoo-has!— PeriodsforPence (@periodsforpence) July 15, 2016
Hundreds of women from all over the country have liked, shared, or commented on social media posts from the “Periods for Pence” push urging them to call the Trump campaign.
The Indiana woman organizing the social media push told STAT her goal is to “make sure that Pence is still getting our messages” — and that Trump does, too. “Since Trump chose Pence,” she said, “then he must have as deep a concern about women’s health care and reproductive issues, so he should probably know about them too.”
The organizer, who asked that STAT not use her name because she was concerned about her safety and retribution from her employer, said she’s now collaborating with a new social media push that sprung up this week with another alliterative name: “Tampons for Trump.”
“While it may seem trivial to call about your period, it’s sending a very specific message that there are women out there who value the ability to make their own decisions for their health and their health care,” the woman organizing the “Tampons for Trump” push, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, told STAT. “And this is our way of sending that message.”
Trump’s remarks about women and their health have generated repeated controversy throughout the campaign. Last summer, he said that Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly had “blood coming out of her wherever” when she asked tough questions during a debate, which many interpreted as a suggestion that Kelly was menstruating. And Trump alarmed even abortion opponents this spring when he suggested that women who seek abortions if the procedure were made illegal should face “some form of punishment.” (He quickly recanted that last comment.)
Now, organizers urging women to report their periods are seizing on such remarks.
Are you bleeding out of your wherever? Let @realDonaldTrump know! (646) 736-1779 #TamponsForTrump
— Tampons For Trump (@TamponsForTrump) July 15, 2016
The “Tampons for Trump” organizer, who lives in Illinois, said she, too, had left a voicemail for Trump’s campaign. Her question for Trump: Should she call her gynecologist to report moderate spotting on her underwear?
On Friday, some women reported on Facebook that they had managed to get through to campaign staffers at Trump’s headquarters.
The staffer who took the Utah woman’s call about disposing her tampons “sounded annoyed, and she didn’t even know for sure that Pence was the VP nominee,” the caller wrote on Facebook. And the tampons? “She told me to send them to my living room,” the caller wrote.
The Indiana caller unsure about whether to go swimming, meanwhile, wrote that she “explained my plight” to a staffer who promised he’d give Pence her message.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to STAT’s request for comment on the calls.
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Please, please, throw them at these clowns during the convention!
This election will pivot on all the groups that these two clowns have insulted, maligned and ruled against. You’d think the GOP would have learned that the last time around, but apparently not.
Personally, I’m thrilled that he picked Pense; it makes for the most repulsive ticket in history.
I would think with all this concern about women’s health, it would be useful to collect and distributed women’s hygiene products at Trump rallies. I thought of that after Trump’s “blood from wherever” comment, but it seems even more appropriate now. Maybe, if he doesn’t know where the blood comes from, someone ought to bring educational material.
Do either one of them know where babies come from?
Absolutely. This election will be decided on the size of the vote — a large turnout will favor BLUE. This election — it really, really matters to vote. We cannot help any Democratic president if we cannot deliver them at least either the House or the Senate. If Clinton wins, look for blockage of everything she wanted to do and what we voted for — if the GOP controls Congress. I think of what America would be like if only Obama had a Democratic Congress. Eight years of stagnation in many, many ways. I am astonished he was able to get done what he was able to do, especially the ACA! It is a blessing to so many Americans that have done without health care for decades.
Let’s spend money on burying a bunch of non living cells. This way we don’t have to help poor children have a free breakfast or lunch. Starve live children, veterans, seniors and working poor the republican way. Please help people to register to vote. It is our best protection against republicans. Many states changed their ID requirements, closed down DMVs so no IDs can be issued. They also decreased voting places so the poor, students, disabled and elderly have a hard time getting to the polls. We must do all we can to get people out to vote. Help people get to the polls. Supreme Court justice will be chosen by the next president, do you want that to be Donald , like in duck. Local elections are just as important. We must purge ourselves of the religious right! Freedom of choice is the only way! We all what needs to be done….let’s do it! Vote blue locally as well as nationally!
Absolutely. This election will be decided on the size of the vote — a large turnout will favor BLUE. This election — it really, really matters to vote. We cannot help any Democratic president if we cannot deliver them at least either the House or the Senate. If Clinton wins, look for blockage of everything she wanted to do and what we voted for — if the GOP controls Congress. I think of what America would be like if only Obama had a Democratic Congress. Eight years of stagnation in many, many ways. I am astonished he was able to get done what he was able to do, especially the ACA! It is a blessing to so many Americans that have done without health care for decades.
Of course let’s waste money tha the country doesn’t have,burying a clump of cells but when it comes to feeding, housing, educating, and providing medical care for LIVE children then all of a sudden Republicans claim there isn’t any money!!
What about our rights as set forth by the 19th amendment?
Isn’t there another way educated women can discuss this??? I think they’re means of showing concern is crude at best!!!! Come on women smarten up, we can do better!
Well now. Don’t you think Trump can do better? Calling out women because he thinks they’re menstruating? It’s called fighting fire with fire. He’s supposed to hold the highest position in the nation and he brings this up???? Did you just miss that part or did you just ignore it?
As someone who has fought for women’s reproductive health rights for many years, our smart, respectful, and angry actions have been ignored if not belittled. It is now time to use ridicule and satire. Maybe *that* will make more Americans wake up and fight for reproductive rights!
No, this works just peachy.
#PadsforPence would be a good way to make sure they BOTH get the message!
On a more sobering note, Pence signing this bill into law disrupted the right of women to donate fetal tissue to IU School Medicine for genetics studies. If the law would have gone into effect, women having abortions and miscarriages were blocked from donating the fetal tissue for research to the doctors that had received grants to study genetics and causes of miscarriages and lethal syndromes in fetuses (which would be required to be carried to birth). Pence believe that treating this tissue in a dignified way was to require burial or cremation. He blocked the donations, which families believe is the highest of honor to a lost child is to donate to medical research to find cures for the future — to other families, to other persons with serious disabilities, and the advancement of science in human genetics. Governor Pence was informed of this problem with the bill and why — and he signed it into law anyway — never bothered to talk with any expert, IU Med researcher — no one. Thank goodness for the court injunction — the right to donate this tissue, the right of families to honor their lost children, is still legal in Indiana. However, this should have never happened to begin with. There is a current lawsuit by I U regarding this blockage of donations in fulfilling their grants at the medical school.
Oh that’s funny and I’m not a woman!
i’m going to call the T.P. headquarters and ask if I should start sending my T.P. to Pence after I masturbate because he might want to save my sperm, because you know “every sperm is sacred” https://youtu.be/fUspLVStPbk