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"Periods For Pence" Is Back With A Vengeance

by Erin Corbett

The first and last vice presidential debate aired on Tuesday, Oct. 4 and some viewers had questions that weren't likely on moderator Elaine Quijano's list. Specifically, one Twitter user brought back the Periods for Pence protest and Mike Pence's interest in women's reproductive health, writing, "Can the debate moderator ask @mike_pence what I'm supposed to do when my period comes tomorrow? Much appreciates (sic)." This is one of the most important questions of the debate by far.

The "Periods for Pence" protest first started in March just after the Indiana governor signed a controversial and unconstitutional abortion bill. The law called for a ban on abortions for anyone wanting the procedure due to race, gender, or ability, and would also place new restrictions on doctors who provided the service in these cases. The Indiana law also required aborted fetuses to be cremated or buried. Since Pence was so interested in knowing every single detail of Indiana women's reproductive health, women across the state started calling the governor's office to let him know when they were expecting their periods and asked for advice regarding other sexual and reproductive health issues.

At the time, the Facebook page indicated the following:

Fertilized eggs can be expelled during a woman's period without a woman even knowing that she might have had the potential blastocyst in her. Therefore, any period could potentially be a miscarriage without knowledge. I would certainly hate for any of my fellow Hoosier women to be at risk of penalty if they do not "properly dispose" of this or report it. Just to cover our bases, perhaps we should make sure to contact Governor Pence's office to report our periods.

As soon as Pence was named by the Trump campaign as the former reality TV star's vice presidential pick, the calls about sexual and reproductive health started flooding the Trump HQ. Pence moving up from governor of Indiana to the vice presidential nominee of a major political party meant that women from across the country could refer their period questions to Pence. What a great service indeed.

Various people took to Twitter during Tuesday night's debate to ask the Republican VP to pick similar questions about their sexual and reproductive healthcare, because he once made it clear that everything related to the matter is his business.

Some were more restrained with their commentary:

While others used the opportunity to question Pence's motives:

Some asked for advice:

And some got real:

So, Pence, what exactly should we do about our periods? Just wondering.