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| Courtesy of Doonesbury.com |
Here is what we can look forward to in upcoming strips:
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.”
Wow! That is certainly going to make some heads explode on the conservative side of the aisle!
I do believe this is the first time Doonesbury has been banned since his strips about the McGinniss book.
As a woman, I am deeply angered and offended by the GOP's condescending attitude that women must be taught what an abortion means.
ReplyDeleteWomen know, more than any man could, what an abortion means. Women also know, more than any man could know, what it means to be pregnant and aware of the risks to themselves and the fetus growing within them. They also know when that fetus finally begins to show signs of life and it's not when the damn sperm connects with an egg. Clusters of cells are not viable human beings, period!
The colossal arrogance of these men is beyond my patience.
What this is is not an argument about when life begins, it is an argument and a forced conclusion that a particular religious view is being crammed up the vagina of every woman.
The government, whether state or national, should not be forcing one religious view upon any of us. Period. This is a basic violation of our Constitution.
Well said, and I'm a man. Can you explain why some women support this crap? I asked one if I could mandate something to go in her vagina, since she apparently didn't think women had an option. She didn't see the parallel.
DeleteThe party which feels that the government shouldn't be able to require it's citizens to have health insurance to cover medical expenses is the same party that is making laws requiring women to have intrusive medical procedures against their wishes?
DeleteThe government requiring health insurance to give women the OPTION to have contraception (included in the price that they pay) is a war against religion....
But a government forcing object rape on it's female citizens is somehow in their best interests?
The Oregonian isn't running Doonesbury. The Oregonian!!! I thought Portland was one of those 'liberal' areas. Guess not.
ReplyDeleteAs a native Oregonian, I find this very disheartening.
DeleteNo heads will explode because conservatives don't get satire or humor. They will most certainly think that this is the way it should be.
ReplyDeleteO/T but you can watch Jeanne Devon, aka AKMuckraker on Rev. Al Sharpton's show here:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45755884/#46711938
She did well holding her own with Al; he's a little bit nuts and he really needs a good tailor to address that baggy suit jacket, but I somehow think his heart is in the right place.
L3
I have a hard time watching Sharpton.
DeleteHmm - How to describe it???
He trips over his words -- he babbles. His segments which are not long, take up far too much time of him just trying to say what the segment is about and then try and get a question out.
Gryphen,
ReplyDeleteYou have to watch Martin Bashir's segment 'vetting' and Game Change. I love watching Bashir as he doesn't mince words!!
"I don't know anything about the disposal of bodily waste in Alaska, but I do know crap when I hear it!!" (ROFLMAO!!!)
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3096434/#46709664
de
OK, That was amazing and way too true. OMFG - she really is beyond ignorant. What the hell did she think Maggie Thatcher did then?
DeleteI am ROFL! I forgot about the Nordstroms problem! Sarah was in there all the time! Game Change’s scene where she is complaining about the clothes was so Sarah! NOT! She is a clothes horse extraordinaire and is addicted to shopping. She was always in Nordstroms in Anchorage during the workday. And, indeed, Doonesbury is right on. She was shopping, reading People and working on her tan while we paid her to govern. What a piece of shit that need to be wiped off our collective shoes.
ReplyDeleteIt’s very upsetting, but I’m glad Doonesbury was brave enough to tackle this.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see he used a white woman; women of color are a distraction.
In my years of QC, I never saw a woman of color challenged because she had too few children. I was challenged many times, and those weren’t “significant others.” They were white men afraid of being outbred by men of color, and attacking white women for their lack of reproduction. They tried to insert themselves into my reproduction, a place where they didn’t belong.
THAT is the basis of this entire BS.
I agree. It is the Pat Robertson "end of white America" syndrome.
DeleteInterestingly, many of these men legislating this crap are men who don't have children of their own or have only one or two and are married to women well beyond the breeding age so they don't have to worry about medical care, lack of insurance, educating, clothing and care taking of unwanted children. Almost all of them are white. Damn fools, all of them.
The war on women will end when all fertile females are barefoot and pregnant (and Christian). The war will never end.
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me is that many of these same guys where in office when the fear of "welfare moms,"unwed baby factories" was the thing to fear.
DeleteI guess since they have gutted social programs, they don't fear them any more. The "precious babies" once born, can all die as far as they are concerned.
The old white men of the GOP want the USA to be the forerunner of "The Handmaid's Tale."
ReplyDeleteHere are some excerpts from the Texas Republican Party Platform--the model for the United States:
ReplyDeleteProtection of Women’s Health – Because of the personal and social pain caused by abortions, we call for the protection of both women and their unborn children from pressure for unwanted abortions. We commend the Texas Legislature for the passage of the Woman’s Right to Know Act, a law requiring abortion providers, prior to an abortion, to provide women full knowledge of the physical and psychological risks of abortion, the characteristics of the unborn child, and abortion alternatives. We urge the state government and the Department of State Health Services to ensure that all abortion providers are in compliance with this informed consent law and to ensure that all pregnancy centers and other entities assisting women in crisis pregnancies have equal access to the informational brochures created by the Department of State Health Services.
Right To Life – All innocent human life must be respected and safeguarded from fertilization to natural death; therefore, the unborn child has a fundamental individual right to life which cannot be infringed. ... We oppose the use of public revenues and/or facilities for abortion or abortion–related services. We support the elimination of public funding for organizations that advocate or support abortion. We are resolute regarding the reversal of Roe v. Wade. We affirm our support for the appointment and election
of judges at all levels of the judiciary who respect traditional family values and the sanctity of innocent human life. We insist that the U.S. Department of Justice needs to prosecute hospitals or abortion clinics for committing induced labor (live birth) abortion. ... Until our final goal of total Constitutional rights for the unborn child is achieved, we beseech the Texas Legislature in consideration of our state’s rights, to enact laws that restrict and regulate abortion including......
Sonograms – We urge the Texas legislature in its next biennial session to enact legislation requiring a sonogram be performed and offered as part of the consent process to each mother seeking an elective abortion.
Looks like they are on their way to achieving their goals. :(
How strange with the woman's right to know act in Texas (educating the woman on potential negative consequence of having an abortion); AZ passes a law that protects a doctor from malpractice who willingly witholds medical information from a woman if he fears that that information may result in the woman chosing to have an abortion. The doctor is exempt from being sued for malpractice even if the end result is that the woman dies as a result of not terminating her pregnancy.
DeleteAt least by placing Doonesbury on the op ed page it will likely be seen as by folks who can read as opposed to the funny pages where some of viewers prolly just look at the pitures.
ReplyDeleteThe more they do not run Doonesbury, the more curious people will become...more will see it than if they just let it run in all newspapers.
ReplyDeleteTrudeau always hits a nerve, beautifully. Like the trolls who pop out here when a post is particularly troubling to The Queen, if the strip has been banned in conservative papers, it's doing its job. Unfortunately, the women who SHOULD see it won't, and in some locations, it wouldn't make much of a difference, lack of humor or irony nonwithstanding. Women in those hardcore Xtian areas are made to feel that they should aspire to nothing more than being subservient baby factories and churn out multiple little parishioners. Of course, birth control is never discussed, because (according to the Jeebus junkies in denial) their kids just aren't having sex like the heathens in the next town. **cough** If a young woman does get pregnant out of wedlock, the baby is their "punishment": "you've made your bed, now lie in it." And the cycle repeats again and again from generation to generation. I've heard this sad story a few times from some of the most dysfunctional and disconnected families I've ever met.
ReplyDeletePS--Thanks for all the comments on Game Over, er, Game Change--I've been so busy reading I've had no time to comment! Great stuff, great film (gave me a huge anxiety attack, like it was 2008 all over again. Perfectly done!)
Men have long favored contraception. That's why they staffed their harems with eunuchs.
ReplyDeleteContraception isn't new. It's just that now women make their own decisions.
When the legislators in this country are all female (as they were all male in the previous century), then men will begin to comprehend what "powerless" really means.
The silver lining in this sorry mess is that BEFORE the elections in November the GOP is dropping their "compassionate conservative" mask and revealing what sanctimonious, controlling asshats they are.
ReplyDeleteObama 2012
Let's pray we're not a majority of asshats.
DeleteWhat the looney right doesn't seem to get is that having an "intimate encounter"(WTF??)with a fetus they have no intention of carrying and have no attachment to is NOT going to change their decision to abort.Do you not get that,Perry,Santorum,Palin,
ReplyDeletethe whole blasted lot of you,a woman chooses abortion because she DOESN'T WANT IT.There's no attachment to it.Looking at it on an ultrasound is nothing.If I had no intention of carrying it,no "intimate encounter" would faze me.Deal with it.
The worst part of this is that STATE OF TEXAS LEGALIZED STATE RAPE is now the law in that state. One would think in a rational society and a state population that was awake had been paying attention a few months ago when Ricky signed this abomination into Texas State Law he would now be digging ditches on a Mississippi chain gang. The man and what he represents is pathetic.
ReplyDeleteCan someone please explain why it's so wrong for devout, xtian conservative, horny middle-aged men to have naughty sexual fantasies about slutty young women being humiliated during the conduct of an intimate medical procedure? Seriously, besides the women involved, who does it really hurt? Can't we leave these poor men alone, fer crying out loud? It's not as if most of these men would actually want to rape a woman (although watching some rough videos probably isnt out of the question...)
ReplyDeleteWhat's next, no more scarlet letter A for adulterers?
I've always admired Trudeau's use of his talent to tackle serious issues and politics.
ReplyDeleteAs a woman and mother, my opinion runs in stride with AnonymousMar 12, 2012 03:50 PM's well written comment. Well put!
Their trying to turn our country into a theocracy, and in the mean time, they're helping President Obama get re-elected.
It is a terrible thing to force a woman to have a vaginal probe and have to watch the sonogram.This price is added on to the price of the abortion.Also the 24 hour waiting period is hard for a lot of women in Texas to travel back and forth for two days..We have a large state and it is hard to travel such distances, juggling work,children and transportation.This is just humiliating and expensive.A group of us from Planned Parenthood went to Austin to lobby.The republicans wouldn't listen and the Democrats apologized for not being to help.These legislators just want to make in impossible to have our doctors and women have control own of our bodies.
ReplyDeleteThe breadth and scope of the current assault on womans rights is breathtaking to be sure......and it's only the beginning....
ReplyDeleteI was looking for this week's strip online and new exactly where I could find it. Thanks, Gryph!!!
ReplyDeleteThere's hope. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, is a Texan. In fact, she is also the daughter of Gov. Ann Richards of "Poor George. He was born with a silver foot in his mouth." fame. They are leading several rallies across the state, with a big one planned in Austin in April. Coincidentally, the Komen Foundation is based in Dallas. If ever there was a place where women's health could be challenged and hopefully championed, it's Texas. Hopefully.
ReplyDelete