Legend has it ancient Romans clutched their testicles while swearing oaths in order to prove they were telling the truth.
Modern Hoosiers are emulating ancient Rome with Testicle Testimonies. An offshoot of the popular Periods for Pence campaign, Testicle Testimonies defers to those with a vans deferens to let Indiana legislators know how it’s hanging.
An anonymous woman started the Periods for Pence Facebook page to protest the controversial abortion law HEA 1337, which she saw as an intrusion of women’s reproductive systems.
She said she specifically found issue with the provision requiring abortion providers to bury or cremate fetal remains from both abortions and miscarriages. She said she thought Indiana had no right to dictate how a woman should handle such sensitive events.
In retaliation, she encouraged people to call Gov. Mike Pence about their menses.
“If they want to know what’s going on down there, I should tell them everything,” she said.
Periods for Pence quickly gained national and international media attention as well as nearly 50,000 Facebook likes. Though the campaign initially targeted Pence, phase two of the campaign encouraged supporters to phone HEA 1337 author state Rep. Casey Cox (R-85). Testicle Testimonies, which started this Monday, is phase three, according to the Periods for Pence Facebook page.
“We want Hoosier men to be involved in securing the rights of Hoosier women,” said Jack Blanchard, Testicle Testimonies spokesman and Harron High School senior.
Blanchard said the Periods for Pence page-runner contacted him because she wanted an intermediary between her and the public in order to maintain her anonymity. She knew Blanchard had a history in grassroots activism and that he had helped to organize last year’s statehouse rally against RFRA.
Blanchard had called Pence’s office before Testicle Testimonies started. He said he wondered if, as a gay man, his genitalia should be subject to the same government regulation as a woman’s uterus.
“It’s only rational Pence would want to regulate men’s bodies as well as women’s,” Blanchard said.
Blanchard said Testicle Testimonies is about taking Indiana legislators at their word that HEA 1337 is about protecting the safety and interests of women.
“It’s about gender equity,” Blanchard said. “I believe that Indiana is a state of gender equality, so men should receive the same information and protections the government is granting women.”
Testicle Testimonies encourages participants to send updates on the activities of their “Third Arm of Justice” to state Sen. Liz Brown(R-15), the only female co-sponsor of HEA 1337.
When contacted, Brown’s press secretary said he had not heard of the Testicle Testimonies campaign.
