If the past is gay sex video hamsterany guide, Mike Pence, the presumptive Republican nominee for vice president, may struggle to bring women into the GOP fold in November.
Pence lost women by five percentage points during his 2012 race for Indiana governor and recent statewide polls found women gave him significant negative ratings.
Many credit that to his decision to pursue stringent anti-abortion legislation, a religious liberty bill that opponents say targets lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, and zealous efforts to shut down Planned Parenthood.
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For the past three years, Indiana State Representative Christina Hale has watched the socially conservative Pence govern from a closer vantage point than most. Both were elected in November 2012, but Hale is a Democrat who represents a largely Republican suburb of Indianapolis. She won her district by a mere 51 votes.
Before Republican presidential nominee Donald J. Trump selected Pence as his vice presidential running mate, Hale was poised to make the state's tight governor's race an even more competitive one. On the Democratic ticket to become the next lieutenant governor, her candidacy promised to lure an important group of voters Pence desperately needed: young, college-educated women.
"I’m afraid that Gov. Pence is stuck in a 1950s mindset and just isn't prepared to lead the nation during these critical times."
Now Hale has a message for women across the country considering Pence's brand of conservatism: "I’m afraid that Gov. Pence is stuck in a 1950s mindset and just isn't prepared to lead the nation during these critical times."
Hale isn't alone in her view of Pence. Mashableinterviewed several Indiana women about the governor's leadership and they were highly critical of his policies. One said he treats women like "children" and another moved out of the state partly to escape his policies.
Mashablerequested a comment from Gov. Pence's office and the Indiana GOP, but did not receive a response by the time this story was published.
While Pence's views certainly have support from conservative female voters in Indiana and across the country, they've ignited controversy for many.
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In the past week, journalists have located some of Pence's old op-eds, one of which argued that the late-'90s Disney movie Mulanwas an effort by "some mischievous liberal" to convince moviegoers that women should be allowed to serve in the military. Another opinion piece suggested that women must stay at home to raise their children, lest kids subjected to daycare experience "stunted emotional growth."
Since Pence's VP selection, Planned Parenthood has hammered him for, among other things, threatening as a congressman to shut down the government over federal funding for the health care provider and signing a bill as governor that requires the burial of all fetal remains — even if a woman experiences a miscarriage.
That law, passed earlier this year, also outlawed abortions chosen on the basis of a fetus' sex, disability or genetic abnormality — factors that critics say are difficult to conclude without a considerable invasion of a woman's privacy.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable When Pence prayed during the bill's signing ceremony, one anonymous Indianapolis mother found the gesture "inappropriate for a legislator." She was subsequently inspired to launch the Facebook page Periods for Pence, which encourages people to call the governor's office (and now the Trump campaign) with details of their menstrual cycle.
The approach is meant to inject humor into a development that many women in the state find terrifying — namely that lawmakers passed unprecedented legislation detailing how a woman must deal with pregnancy and miscarriage.
While federal judges have blocked the ban on abortions sought because of sex, disability and gender abnormality, women in the state remain worried that the bill, in combination with the state's feticide law, will encourage health care workers to scrutinize miscarriages for evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
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"We started this page with a satirical childish response because he’s treating us like children, like women can’t make their own decisions," says the founder of Periods for Pence. "I get messages from women all the time who tell me how they might be affected by [the bill]. It’s having a very profound impact on women in Indiana; [Pence] just doesn’t seem to understand that."
Some women do support the the legislation. Amanda Hubartt, who lives in Fort Wayne, told the Indianapolis Starin April that she'd planned to vote for Pence in the governor's race. "As a parent of a child with disabilities, I think that this issue specifically strengthens my respect for him because he's looking out for this vulnerable population," said Hubartt.
"What’s been happening in Indiana has been far more radical and severe than people realize."
Jenni Kotting, a South Bend resident and communications director of the National Network of Abortion Funds, more frequently hears from women concerned about abortion access and the new requirements and criminal statutes.
"It's not just a decision about our families, but [it's about] that fear and that potential to go to prison, which shouldn’t be part of the pregnancy experience," says Kotting. "What’s been happening in Indiana has been far more radical and severe than people realize."
Pence's conservative agenda also extends to LGBT issues. The governor championed and signed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act in 2015, which critics say make it possible for individuals, employers and business owners to discriminate against LGBT people. Those opponents say an amendment to the bill, designed to address that problem, does not sufficiently prohibit any type of discrimination that may occur when a person, business or company cites religious beliefs to deny someone services or employment.
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Amy Sandler, a plaintiff in the Indiana lawsuit that led to statewide marriage equality in 2014, says that Pence's opposition to same-sex marriage and his support of RFRA partly led to her decision to leave the state.
"One reason I am choosing to leave Indiana is because I don't want to fight anymore," Sandler says. "I just want to live. I want our daughters to have the freedom that all children in this country deserve."
"One reason I am choosing to leave Indiana is because I don't want to fight anymore."
Sandler's wife died of ovarian cancer last year. Soon after she testified before the Indiana House Judiciary Committee at a hearing on the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, imploring legislators not to pass a bill that could make it possible for healthcare workers to deny patients like her wife treatment on the grounds of their sexuality.
Hale says Pence's focus on social issues has created a difficult partisan environment. (Her running mate, John Gregg, identifies as anti-abortion but has called for a "truce" on social issues.)
In the past few years, Hale has unsuccessfully introduced legislation to eliminate the sales tax on tampons, pads and diapers for babies and adults; teach age-appropriate consent to children, with a focus on aiding those who may be victims of sexual abuse and assault; and make so-called revenge porn, or nonconsensual porn, a crime in the state.
"I think the political climate is such that people are afraid to touch [these issues]," says Hale. "I think it’s fair to say Gov. Pence has become known for being more ideological or philosophical than practical."
This post was updated at 5:53 p.m. PDT.
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