“The costume is not that heavy, but it doesn’t bend very much (so sitting down can be difficult!) and it does get hot in the summer,” a rep from Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which conceived (pun intended!) Pillamina, explains.
Source: media.washtimes.com
The Planned Parenthood Action Fund, the political arm of the abortion rights group and health care provider, recently announced that "Pillamina" would trail Mitt Romney on his bus tour through swing states this summer. Pillamina is a human-sized costume that looks like a huge pack of birth control pills.
She's following Romney because, he "has clearly said that not only was Griswold v. Connecticut not decided correctly, but that he opposes President Obama’s birth control benefit, which will lower costs for millions of American women," Planned Parenthood Action Fund president Cecile Richards said in a statement. "The bottom line is that access to birth control is an economic issue for women. Period. That’s something that President Obama clearly understands, and that Mitt Romney simply doesn’t."
Eric Ferrero, Planned Parenthood Action Fund's vice president of communications, answered a few questions about Pillamina and her journey.
Who designed the Pillamina costume?
The costume was created years ago by a costumer, and was used off and on at different events by Planned Parenthood staff and volunteers.
How did she come about?
In 2010, the Pillamina character was created for the Planned Parenthood Action Fund’s “Birth Control Matters” campaign, designed to spread the word about birth control as basic preventive health care and support the no-co-pay birth control provision of the Affordable Care Act. She was dubbed “Pillamina” in her first video, a Gossip Girl spoof.
In 2010 and 2011, the Planned Parenthood Action fund released a series of three videos starring Pillamina (“Birth Control Girl,” “Pillamina Returns,” and “Planned Parenthood Goes Bollywood”) — the last one was one of The Daily Show’s “Moments of Zen” last year!
