Doonesbury Calls Abortion Law "Rape"

Political comic strip Doonesbury will debut an abortion storyline next
week, with a particular focus on the Texas law requiring pregnant women
to receive a transvaginal ultrasound and then wait 24 hours before
having an abortion.

Some papers will opt not to run the strip due to its explicit and
controversial content. The storyline involves a woman going in for an
abortion and being sent to the "shaming room" where she's asked, "Do
your parents know you're a slut?" Once there, the woman endures a
transvaginal ultrasound, with the doctor saying, "By the authority
invested in me by the GOP base, I thee rape."

In an interview, Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau stands behind the
storyline while acknowledging that he knew some newspapers would reject
it. He says ignoring the abortion debate would be "comedy malpractice,"
and goes on to explain why he felt comfortable calling the mandatory
transvaginal ultrasound "rape."

Texas's HB-15 isn't hard to explain: The bill says that in order for a
woman to obtain a perfectly legal medical procedure, she is first
compelled by law to endure a vaginal probe with a hard, plastic 10-inch
wand. The World Health Organization defines rape as "physically forced
or otherwise coerced penetration — even if slight — of the vulva or
anus, using a penis, other body parts or an object." You tell me the
difference.

Newspapers that refuse to run the politically-charged strips will be
running Doonesbury "Flashbacks" instead. Of course, they'll have to
avoid the 1985 storyline in which the comic parodied anti-abortion film
The Silent Scream.

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