Newspapers Ban 'Doonesbury Comic Strip for Transvaginal Exam/Contraception Plotline

By PZ Myers, Pharyngula
Posted on March 10, 2012, Printed on March 11, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/newsandviews/836925/newspapers_ban_%5C%27doonesbury_comic_strip_for_transvaginal_exam_contraception_plotline

Newspapers Ban 'Doonesbury Comic Strip for Transvaginal Exam/Contraception Plotline

 

 Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert! Spoiler alert!

 

We've got the plot points for all of next week's Doonesbury. I've got the summaries below the fold; don't read them if you don't want to ruin the surprise. Although…you may find you're going to have to read them to see them at all, since many newspapers aren't running them. Including our own St Paul Pioneer press, which says:

 

Re: Doonesbury strips. We are subbing in print at the Pioneer Press and directing readers to online if they want to read them. Not appropriate for Comics pages with its mix of Garfield and The Duplex and not a great solution to move them to the Opinion pages for a week.

 

Oh, yeah. We mustn't taint Garfield!

 

The reason for this terror revealed below.

 

Monday: Young woman arrives for her pre-termination sonogram, is told to take a seat in the shaming room, a middle-aged male state legislator will be right with her.

 

Tuesday: He asks her if this is her first visit to the center, she replies no, that she's been using the contraceptive services for some time. He says, "I see. Do your parents know you're a slut?"

 

Wednesday: A different male is reading to her about the transvaginal exam process.

 

Thursday: In the stirrups, she is telling a nurse that she doesn't want a transvaginal exam. Doctor says "Sorry miss, you're first trimester. The male Republicans who run Texas require that all abortion seekers be examined with a 10″ shaming wand." She asks "Will it hurt?" Nurse says, "Well, it's not comfortable, honey. But Texas feels you should have thought of that." Doctor says, "By the authority invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape."

 

Friday: Doctor is explaining that the Texas GOP requires her to have an intimate encounter with her fetus. He begins describing it to her. Last panel, he says, "Shall I describe it's hopes and dreams?" She replies, "If it wants to be the next Rick Perry, I've made up my mind."

 

Saturday: Back in the reception area, she asks where she goes now for the actual abortion. Receptionist tells her there's a 24-hour waiting period: "The Republican Party is hoping you get caught in a shame spiral and change your mind." Last panel: She says, "A final indignity." Receptionist replies, "Not quite. Here's your bill."

 

© 2012 All rights reserved.

 

Donations can be sent to the Baltimore Nonviolence Center, 325 E. 25th St., Baltimore, MD 21218.  Ph: 410-366-1637; Email: mobuszewski [at] verizon.net. Go to http://baltimorenonviolencecenter.blogspot.com/

 

"The master class has always declared the wars; the subject class has always fought the battles. The master class has had all to gain and nothing to lose, while the subject class has had nothing to gain and everything to lose--especially their lives." Eugene Victor Debs