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Papers pulling Doonesbury over Texas abortion strips

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Garry Trudeau’s Doonesbury is being pulled in about a dozen newspapers this week over the topic of Texas law requiring women to have an ultrasound prior to having an abortion. According to Reuters, The Oregonian said it was pulling it because it “went over the line of good taste and humor” and The LA Times has moved it to the opinion page. Jim Romensko is reporting that the highly sensitive Chicago Tribune, who has pulled the strip in the past over less sensitive issues, has decided to run the strips.

From an Associated Press:

Asked for comment on the “Doonesbury” series, Perry spokesman Catherine Frazier said the governor is proud of his leadership on the sonogram law.

“The decision to end a life is not funny,” Frazier said. “There is nothing comic about this tasteless interpretation of legislation we have passed in Texas to ensure that women have all the facts when making a life-ending decision.”

Garry tells Michael Cavna “To ignore [the abortion-law debate] would have been comedy malpractice.”

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Comments 5

  1. Garry’s better than this. Besides the poor taste, it’s SO cliche and lacks the substance we associate with his work. A “shame” is encouraging women to pump their bodies full of abortifacient chemicals with government mandated funds from the collection plate. Don’t see any humor in the grisly murder of the innocent, either.

  2. Then don’t read the strip, Joe.

  3. I think it’s a funny strip but I agree it probably doesn’t belong next to Marmaduke or whatever the hell they have in the funny pages these days. Here in Seattle the PI just moved it off the comics page to the A section. That’s a better move than dropping it I think.

    Also I see much less humor in your strip Joe, than I do in the current Doonesbury series.

  4. I think Garry is right on the money with this topic. He has never shied away from covering serious topics, why should this be any different? It will make some people squeamish; it’s supposed to.

  5. Ironically, by pulling a comic feature, a newspaper only encourages its readers to turn to the web and read it anyways … for free.

    Abortion debate aside, isn’t that commercial suicide?

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