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This Mike Pence Quote Shows How Anti-Choice He Is

by Margaret Judson

Donald Trump has officially announced the much anticipated pick for his vice presidential pick: Mike Pence. This comes as a surprise to some who expected that Trump's choice would be someone who's "woman-friendly," in order to remain competitive with his opponent who is polling extremely well with the demo. Instead, the presumptive Republican nominee chose someone who might set him back as far as women votes are concerned and this one Mike Pence quote says it all.

Before becoming governor of Indiana, Pence served as a U.S. Congressman and made targeting Planned Parenthood his trademark. In just 10 short years as a representative, Pence made six attempts to hijack the organization, at one point saying of the protection of women's health rights, "I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history."

Although Indiana was already one of the most strict-on-abortion states in the country, Pence continued his trend of attacks on women's reproductive rights when he was elected governor. In March, he signed state legislation HB 1337 into law, one of the most extreme anti-choice restrictions to date. Here's why the legislation is so dangerous: The enforcement of the law is based on the woman's reason for having an abortion and is expected to somehow police a woman on why she wants an abortion. Also, the law requires a woman to have an ultrasound and listen to a heartbeat, then wait 18 hours before going through with the procedure. After, she is required to pay to cremate or bury the tissue remains.

HB 1337 quickly sprung president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Indiana and Kentucky Betty Cockrum into action, who said in a statement:

This cruel law painted a grim picture for Indiana women with its blatant, unwelcome intrusion into private, independent decision making. HB 1337 is a violation of the sacred doctor and patient relationship. Today's decision shows Gov. Mike Pence that he cannot force his religious ideology on Hoosiers. It is further compelling recognition by the courts that legislation interfering with women's reproductive rights will not be tolerated.

And the pushback even led to the Facebook group, Periods For Pence, and hashtag #PeriodsForPence — the idea being that Pence cares about women's bodies and reproductive ins and outs and deserves to be updated.

Right now trump's "woman problem" is no joke as Pew Research Center found as recently as June that the discrepancy of educated women voters is 62-31 in Clinton's favor. In that case, this vice president pick doesn't look to be helping Trump's cause.