A Houston seamstress has stitched up a plan to protest the new abortion law and she is getting crafty. Michelle Sinched has started a line of Rick Perry “Gov. Goodhair” voodoo dolls. The proceeds from the doll sales go to support Planned Parenthood.
In an email interview with CultureMap, Sinched said the handmade dolls are selling so fast that she started a waiting list because she can't keep up with the heavy demand. "I really only expected to sell a half dozen or so to some friends and that would be the end of it, " she noted.
Earlier this week, Sinched began offering the dolls up on her Facebook page, where she nicknamed herself “the stitch witch.” She now has a Facebook page called “The Witches Stitches” for the sale of the dolls and to promote it she posted:
There are two types of dolls, one casually dressed in a shirt that says “I [coat hanger] Texas Women” and one dressed in a suit. The doll comes with a blank sign that can be personalized along with three handmade tampon pins for sticking in the doll. She is selling the business-themed Perry for $30, the casual Perry for $25 and the pair for $50.
Each doll takes about an hour to make and the pins take about four-five minutes each to complete, according to Sinched. "Sewing and knitting have always been considered 'women's work' so it is fun to take a womanly job and throw it back at an annoyingly patriarchal group," she said.
But her protest also has a serious side. "I want people to realize that the freedoms and rights our grandmothers fought so hard for are being stripped away and if we don't do something about it, what will happen next?" she said.
On Thursday, Perry signed the bill that gives Texas some of the toughest restrictions on abortion in the country. The law bans abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy, requires abortion clinics to meet the same standards as hospital-style surgical centers and mandates that a doctor have admitting privileges at a hospital within 30 miles from the facility where he or she performs abortions.
Abortion rights advocates believe the law could force a majority of the state’s 42 abortion clinics to close and vowed to challenge the law's legality in court.
"I don't care what side of the abortion debate someone is on, if you don't like abortions, don't have one,' said Sinched, who considers herself 'pro-choice' and 'pro-life.' "Stay out of other women's private lives, including their reproductive healthcare."
The doll comes with three handmade tampon stick pins.
