Today’s edition of Garry Trudeau’s “Doonesbury” doesn’t pull any punches. It features a woman checking in at a clinic for her mandatory sonogram, in advance of an abortion. Another woman, behind the desk, hands the patient a clipboard and says, “[Y]ou’ll need to fill out this form. Please take a seat in the Shaming Room…. A middle-aged, male state legislator will be with you in a moment.”
The comic, clearly a response to recent Republican measures in Virginia, Texas, and elsewhere, is expected to be part of a week-long series. As it turns out, however, you may not find it in your local newspaper.
A national syndicate will offer replacement “Doonesbury” comic strips to newspapers that don’t want to run a series that uses graphic imagery to lampoon a Texas law requiring women to have an ultrasound before an abortion, executives said Friday.
A handful of newspapers say they would not run this week’s series, while several others said the strips would move from the comics to opinion pages or Web sites only.
The series will apparently be harder hitting as the week progresses, and will feature a physician who will read a script from Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R), welcoming the patient to a “compulsory transvaginal exam” against her wishes, as well as a middle-aged legislator who calls her a “slut.”
The device used for the exam is described as a “10-inch shaming wand.”









