1st Amendment Censorship, Texas Abortion Law and Doonesbury Day 4

Today Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury strip gets even more cutting on the issue of Texas Abortion Law.

To be fair the use if the word rape is inaccurate. As rape has to be the penetration without consent of a penis. However, the emotion scarring may well be the same. The fact that the largely Male republicans in Texas were the ones who passed this law means that the emotional consequences of such an intrusion have probably not been given the weight they deserve.

If you are not getting you're regularly scheduled Doonesbury in your paper in the USA. I hope you enjoy.

1st Amendment Censorship, Texas Abortion Law and Doonesbury Day 3

Day 3 of Garry Trudeau's take on the Texas Abortion Law strip for Doonesbury brings in the name of Texas Governor and former GOP Presidential Candidate Rick Perry who signed the law into being.

The doctor is reading the prescribed words regarding abortion as obviously he cannot be trusted to aim the words at the recipient as he would be discussing cancer or HIV with a recently diagnosed patient.

© 2012 Garry Trudeau , Universal Press Syndicate 

1st Amendment Censorship, Texas Abortion Law and Doonesbury Day 2

Garry Trudeau carries on with is Doonesbury strip looking at the Texas Abortion Law.

Today it features a legislator called Sid Patrick an amalgam of Sid Miller Texas Representative and state Senator Dan Patrick.

Miller when talking about cuts to Planned Parenthood clinics last year said, women who lose their family planning provider can find services elsewhere at "faith, community-based pregnancy care centers". Of course these locations unlike Planned Parenthood don't provide any type of medical care, no cancer screenings, STD Tests, Pap smears or oral contraception.

The 'slut' part of the cartoon refers to the comments that Rush Limbaugh made recently on his right-wing radio show at a student who testified before a congressional committee about the increasing cost of birth control. He referred to her, as she said she had to ask partners to help pay for the cost of this as a 'slut' and an 'prostitute'.

Anyway as I promised this week, I'll be running the Donnesbury strip so here is today's.

© 2012 Garry Trudeau , Universal Press Syndicate 

1st Amendment Censorship, Texas Abortion Law and Doonesbury Day 1

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances. 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

I've watched this weekend anxiously my own political party have a heated debate on a key issue of health reform. Each side was allowed to put its case. 


Listening as I often do, through the wonders of the internet, to American radio and TV, or reading their press I know that sometimes that debate is stiffled. Pro-Choice and Pro-Gay messaging is often knocked down, without any balance of the argument from the other side. This from a country that loves to talk up the freedoms granted to their citizens by their bill of rights, which includes the 4th Amendment above.


You see there is a freedom of speech and the press. Yet this week certain parts of the press are using their freedom to stifle one of their syndicated cartoon writers freedom of speech via their publications. Garry Trudeau's Doonesbury strip holds the mirror up to the bi-polar nature of American political thought. Where, you are either for or against something it seems, you cannot see good points of something while objecting to it overall. 


This week, the target of the cartoon in the Texas State Abortion Law which now requires women seeking an abortion to visit the abortion clinic twice! The first is 24 hours before the abortion can be carried out is so that a sonogram can be taken of the fetus. The mother can opt out of seeing the images and hearing the heaertbeat, but must listen to the description of the sonogram. There is also at this first visit be advise as to the risks, alternatives etc. before the mother is sent home to sleep on the matter. 


It forces the mother who probably already has taken sometime thinking about the decision to even attend for an abortion, to spend another night having been introduced to the fetus and given all the information that she wants. Both the added time penalty and this wait between the actions on day one and the termination are seen as adding emotional strain to women who are already going through all sorts of turmoil. 


However, the cartoon which tries to point out the turmoil from the women's perspective has been pulled from it's syndication slot in some papers, or moved from the family to editorial section of others. The reason supporters of this Law give for it is that it serves educational and awareness purposes. I would argue that pulling the Doonesbury cartoon removes the education and awareness from the women's perspective to a lot of America.


If you are reading this and can't find this week's Doonesbury in your paper you will probably be able to find it online at their website. But as a counter to those who want to censor freedom of speech I'll be displaying this week's strips.

© 2012 Garry Trudeau , Universal Press Syndicate