Women clad in red cloaks protesting the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barett

The scene on Sunday at Lee County Justice Complex Center was straight from The Handmaid’s Tale. About a dozen women clad in bonnets and red cloaks stood on the steps. They say it was Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s last wish.

“Ruth sent us,” they said. “This is her last wish.”

The women say Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg would not have wanted to be replaced until after the presidential election.

“We must now be ruthless. We don’t have anyone there to fight for us,” said Cyrstal Czyscon, organizer of Southwest Florida Red Cloaks.

They were donning white bonnets and red cloaks like characters from Margaret Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale, as part of a larger nationwide protest. More than a dozen women showed up in Southwest Florida for the silent protest. Instead, they let their signs and costumes do the talking.

“We are bringing the fight to them. We’re not just going to sit back anymore. We are silent no longer,” said Layla Woody, one of the women out protesting.

The group’s goal is to fight against Presiden Trump’s Supreme Court nominee. They claim Barrett is the exact opposite of Ginsburg. Now, the group is worried about the future of women’s rights and reproductive rights.

“We feel oppressed,” Czyscon said. “We feel afraid. We are not just pieces of property, for our lives to be decided by the government. The government should stay away from all bodies. Not just women’s bodies, all bodies.”

But, according to the Lee County Republican Party Vice Chairman, despite Ginsburg’s wishes, Trump is president. And he is fulfilling his duties by nominating Judge Barrett.

“She’s had a very conservative, constitutional approach to everything and I think she would do the same thing on the Supreme Court,” said Vice Chairman Doris Cortese.

Which is exactly what Southwest Florida Red Cloaks fears. “It was a very frightening vision of what our country could look like in nine days, eight days,” said Czyscon.

But she hopes that vision is never realized.

The Senate is expected to vote on Judge Amy Coney Barrett’s confirmation Monday evening.