In response to a proposed ban on an abortion procedure known as dilation and evacuation, a group of women in Ohio attended a committee hearing yesterday dressed as characters from the hugely popular television series The Handmaid's Tale.

Wearing long red cloaks and white bonnets, the women gathered at the Statehouse in order to fight proposed legislation which would criminalise a common abortion procedure.

Deemed 'dismemberment abortion' by anti-abortion campaigners, the process, which is typically carried out in the second trimester,  involves removing a foetus from the womb with a forceps.

Bill sponsor is talking about how women cannot be trusted to make their own healthcare decisions surrounded by #OHHandmaids pic.twitter.com/7ZyrCe2ES6

— NARAL ProChoice Ohio (@ProChoiceOH) June 13, 2017

The Senate Bill 145 has been sponsored by members of Ohio's Republican party, who deem the procedure  'inhumane'.

Exceptions to the proposed bill can, however, be made if the woman's life is in danger. Critics of the proposed bill have dubbed it unconstitutional. 

Commenting on the women's silent protest inspired by Margaret Atwood's book, one Twitter use wrote: "This is a BRILLIANT protest move but I am sobbing because it's real."

"This is savage, and I'm totally here for it," wrote another while a fellow Twitter user added: "Wow. Protest game on point."