Why Women Loved Telling Pence About Their Periods

Update: On Friday via one simple tweet, Donald Trump confirmed Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is his vice presidential running mate.

Earlier: While it has yet to be confirmed by the presumptive Republican nominee, it's being widely reported that Mike Pence is Donald Trump's likely vice presidential pick and will be announced as his official running mate on Friday. Roll Call broke the news on Thursday with the New York Times reporting shortly thereafter that Trump's campaign has "signaled strongly to Republicans in Washington" that Pence would be Trump's chosen running mate. Well, before the VP speculation, to many who care about reproductive rights, the Indiana governor is already infamous thanks to #PeriodsForPence.

Pence is arguably one of most vehemently anti-choice governors currently in office. Moreover, during his time in Congress, Pence supported defunding Planned Parenthood and said before the House of Representatives, "I long for the day that Roe v. Wade is sent to the ash heap of history." According to NARAL Pro-Choice America, Pence repeatedly voted for the Federal Abortion Ban, which carried up to two years in prison as a sentence for doctors who performed abortions.

Thus, it wasn't exactly out of left field when Pence signed into law one of the most extreme abortion restriction to date this past March. House Enrolled Act 1337 prevented women from aborting a fetus because it had a genetic abnormality — so, for example, if a fetus tested for possibly having Down Syndrome, a woman could not choose to have an abortion because of the fear it would be born with a disability, according to an Indy Star report on the law. "It also restricts a woman from terminating her pregnancy solely because of the gender or race of the fetus," the Indy Star noted.

Planned Parenthood denounced the law almost immediately after Pence signed it — but some pro-choice women started a grassroots movement to make sure the Indiana governor heard their disappointment loud and clear. Under the logic that Pence cared oh-so-much about women's pregnancy status that he probably wanted to know about their menstrual cycles, women started the Periods For Pence Facebook group and began calling the Indiana governor's office to talk about their flow.

"I need to get a message to the Governor that I am on day three of my period. My flow seems abnormally heavy, but my cramps are much better," one woman called to say, according to a report from a local ABC affiliate.

In June, a federal judge blocked the Indiana abortion law from going into effect, and the Periods For Pence movement seems to have died down. But who knows? If Pence is chosen as Trump's running mate, it could certainly get the flow started all over again.