The Handmaid's Tale is one of the most frightening dystopias in television history. The United States of America has been replaced by the Republic of Gilead, an extremely oppressive theocracy that enslaves and subjugates nearly every one of its citizens, and even its ruling class is often victim to its barbaric punishments.

Almost no one would willingly live in a country like Gilead, so the politicians of the nation have enacted laws that have basically ensured that no one in the country can leave, either because they don't know how or because they're too scared to stand up against their government. Pretty much every one of their laws is an object lesson in the horrors of extremism, but some laws stick out as the worst of the worst. These are the most terrifying laws in Gilead.

Women Can't Vote

Serena Joy Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale

Any woman living in the Western world would be appalled at the idea of their right to vote being taken away, and it says a lot about Gilead's societal structure and laws that this is actually one of the least horrifying laws that they have enacted on their populace.

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The governing body of Gilead is completely confusing and unclear, and it appears that this is an intentional move to obfuscate where the power truly lies. So in that sense, it's really a question of how much voting in the "Republic" of Gilead even matters at this point.

Citizens Do Not Have The Right To A Fair Trial

Emily (Ofglen) being arrested in The Handmaid's Tale

The right to a fair trial is one of the most vital elements of many civilized societies, so the fact that the people of Gilead are subject to the obvious farce of their justice system is frightening.

Many don't even have the opportunity to speak in their own defense, as Emily's arrest early on in the series demonstrated, she was literally gagged throughout her brief trial. Terrifyingly, even the elites of Gilead can be "tried" without any input or awareness of what's going on. If commanders at the level of Warren Putnam can be executed in public, clearly no one is safe.

Women Can't Write

Serena Joy Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale

It's beyond bizarre to imagine any government making it literally illegal for half of their population to even write, but Gilead is nothing if not the most extreme imaginable oppression. The Biblical justification for this law is pretty much nonexistent, but the actual word of the Bible clearly doesn't have a lot of impact on the realities of Gilead's extremist laws.

Words have power, as Serena Joy Waterford's prior career as an extreme right-wing author demonstrated. And since women in Gilead are supposed to have as little power as possible, it's unfortunately understandable that they're now banned from writing, though that makes it no less frightening.

Women Can't Read

Aunt Lydia in The Handmaid's Tale

In addition to being forbidden from writing, women are also forbidden from reading. This is a horrifying but brilliant little twist of a law from Gilead as well, because while they use the Bible to justify every awful thing that they do, if women are banned from reading then they can't exactly prove or disprove that Gilead's laws are actually completely made-up nonsense.

Similarly, while writing is an objective and observable "offense," the ban on reading is particularly scary in a world like Gilead because it is an accusation that can be easily levied and not easily disproved.

Women Can Be Deemed "Unwomen"

Alexis Bledel as Oflgen/Emily in The Handmaid's Tale

Women are obviously extremely restricted in the Republic of Gilead, but amazingly, it's possible to be even lower on the totem pole than a Gilead woman.

Unwomen are essentially women who can't fit into the new Gilead society for some reason. Either they can't adjust to the new world order, or they're "criminals" (i.e. they were social justice advocates or in the pre-Gilead era, or engaged in some other profession or behavior that Gilead found unacceptable). Becoming an "unwoman" is like being declared persona non grata in Gilead, and even the hollow and extremely limited "rights" that women have in the society are taken away from unwomen.

Competing Religions Are Outlawed

June Osborne From The Handmaid's Tale in front of Angel Wings.

In a theocracy, it's upsettingly realistic to assume that all other religions will be outlawed and that people who adhere to those religions may be punished very harshly for their differing points of view.

But Gilead's particular brand of Christianity seems to be the most extreme fire-and-brimstone version of the religion, and while they have made "competing" religions illegal, they have also made every branch of Christianity besides their own illegal. And of course, anyone who is discovered to be of a different faith is typically sentenced to death for their heresy.

Women Can't Own Property

Fred and Serena Joy Waterford in The Handmaid's Tale

This is yet another one of the more insidious laws in Gilead's society. Because given the entire societal structure of the nation, this really comes as no surprise. But when it comes to disenfranchising its population, there is really no greater extreme that they could go to.

Things like literacy and religious freedom are undoubtedly important, inalienable rights for all humans on earth, but to deny someone ownership of literally anything in the world completely traps them in their station in life and gives them zero means of escape. That is likely the precise motivation behind this law, but that makes it far scarier and more insidious.

Contraception Is Illegal

Commander Lawrence and June in The Handmaid's Tale

The entire country of Gilead is ostensibly built around resolving the plummeting birth rates by any means necessary. But as becomes obvious to anyone who can see beneath that thin veneer, creating and protecting children is not of genuine concern and is only used as an excuse for even more extreme control.

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The oppressive nation tends to talk out of both sides of its mouth when it comes to birthing more babies by any means necessary, because paradoxically, anyone who is found using contraception can be punished by death (and if birthing children is all that matters, how could any death of fertile people be justified).

Abortion Is Retroactively Illegal

Janine holding Charlotte (Angela) on The Handmaid's Tale

Given Gilead's stance on childbirth and childbearing in general, abortion being the biggest of taboos is not a huge shock. However, what makes their laws regarding it even more terrifying is that it's not just illegal in Gilead, but it's a crime if a woman has ever had an abortion, even if she had it in a time or place where it was legal.

And unsurprisingly, this gives the state the opportunity to arrest fertile women and sentence them to serve as a handmaid to make up for their sin.

Male Next Of Kin Rule Women And Children

Commander Pryce standing with Nick in The Handmaid's Tale

Gilead is a nation that relies on the subjugation of its people in order to function, and one of the clearest and easiest ways that they've made this happen is by only giving any real legal rights to men. The women and children of their society are pretty much property belonging to their male next of kin, whether that's their father, husband, or whatever man is left over after the revolution.

In this day and age, most people would imagine that's impossible because any rational person understands that one human can't be owned by another, but this idea is one of the main cornerstones of Gilead's existence.

Second Marriages Are Retroactively Illegal

June and Luke in The Handmaid's Tale

Although flashbacks of June's story have demonstrated that she was literally an adulterer who began her relationship with Luke while he was still married to someone else, that's not all that qualifies as adultery in the eyes of Gilead.

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According to their laws, only first marriages are legal. This means that anyone in the US who had been divorced and then married again had their second marriages dissolved and were considered criminals in the eyes of the state.

Actions Can Be Made Retroactively Illegal

Fred Waterford from The Handmaid's Tale is in an angry mood.

This idea is self-evident because there are already specific acts that Gilead has made retroactively illegal, but retroactive laws are extremely uncommon in civilized societies because it is an incredibly dangerous precedent to set.

It's even more frightening in the brutal political atmosphere of Gilead, because it essentially means that those in power can create laws to target their enemies despite the fact that they weren't actually doing anything illegal at the time that the action was taken.

"Gender Treachery" Is Illegal

Moira volunteering with refugees in Canada in The Handmaid's Tale

According to the laws of Gilead, sexual intercourse is solely for procreation and therefore is only legally permitted between a man and a woman. So of course, anyone who is not heterosexual is illegal.

It's one thing to outlaw behaviors, but to make the existence of an actual person illegal is truly incomprehensible. It's not surprising in the least that a bunch of religious ideologues would look at LGBTQ+ sexualities as a sin or even as a crime, but it flies in the face of the most fundamental human rights in the world.

The Free Press Is Illegal

June Osborne in The Handmaid's Tale

This is a law that once again seems downright logical according to Gilead's complete illogic, but once the freedom of the press is gone it's starkly clear how important it is as a basic human right.

Half of the population can't read anyway, and the government of Gilead has no interest in letting its people know what it's up to, so the notion that they would have any press at all seems like a bit of a stretch. But concealment of information and truth is one of the most dangerous and easiest ways to control millions of people too.

Freedom Of Speech Is Illegal

Madeline Brewer as Janine in Handmaid's Tale

Freedom of speech is undoubtedly seen as an inalienable human right in the eyes of most of the show's audience, but the realities of what banning free speech means are legitimately terrifying to see in The Handmaid's Tale.

Regulating what people can even say to one another is a level of control that only the scariest totalitarian regimes subscribe to, and putting every person in the country in a mindset where they are always in danger if they ever express themselves openly really robs them of their own personhood. Gilead's rule of law is to fall in line or die, and nothing could make this clearer.

Citizens Are Not Equal Under The Eyes Of The Law

Serena Joy from The Handmaid's Tale sitting with Fred, June in the background dressed as a handmaid.

This is one of the most inherently obvious aspects of Gilead's society that is also one of its most unsettling, but ultimately the people of Gilead are not equal under the eyes of its laws.

The class system within Gilead is incredibly strict, the government can alter the class of its citizens at random, and only the highest echelon of the social classes seems to get any preferential treatment whatsoever. But, the notion of one action being a crime punishable by death for a certain class while not being a crime at all for another flies in the face of most people's perception of inherent human equality and truly illustrates how unjust the Gilead justice system is.

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