Ann Dowd is Inspired By Those Fighting For Reproductive Rights

Ann Dowd of “The Handmaid's Tale” delivers a bone-chilling portrayal of Aunt Lydia on the acclaimed series. But in real life, she is very much supportive of women’s reproductive rights—and inspired by women who dress up as handmaids to advocate for their rights.

“It gives me goosebumps and I want to kneel down in gratitude to them,” she said. “And to the fact that we can be part of something like this, and that they took something that was on television, entrainment and put it into the real world, which is in trouble.”

The world in the fictional book-turned-television series is frequently seen as a foreshadowing of what could happen to America if women’s reproductive rights continue to be compromised.

Dowd wants women who are protesting to maintain their rights to know that they are not alone.

“I do try to keep up with the news, I can’t watch[Trump] because I can’t, because he’s an idiot and he’s a narcissist and he’s a criminal,” she said. “But when I saw what was going through the Senate in Alabama, I literally though, ‘no no no, that was from the ‘60s right?”

Regardless of the bleak news, she believes that women should “never give up.”

“It will not happen,” she said, alluding to the possibility of Roe v Wade dismantlement. “We will not allow it to happen. And thank you for being the physical presence of that fight.”