Newspaper Page Text
PAGE 10—The Georgia Bulletin, May 30,1985
Doonesbury Author Pulls
Parody Of "Silent Scream"
BY
DIANE M. GIANELLI
WASHINGTON (NC) -
A six-part “Doonesbury”
comic strip which parodies '
the anti-abortion film “The
Silent Scream” was
withdrawn from national
syndication by author
Garry Trudeau after his
syndicator thought the six
strips were “too controver
sial.”
Trudeau then sold the
strips to The New Republic
magazine, which published
them in its June 10 issue.
The recalled comic strip
had been scheduled to
begin running June 3 in the
800 newspapers which
carry “Doonesbury.”
Trudeau’s parody of the
film is called “Silent
Scream: The Prequel.” It
depicts the abortion of a
“12-minute-old” embryo
named “Timmy,” whose
dying words are “repeal
Roe vs. Wade,” a reference
to the 1973 Supreme Court
decision legalizing abor
tion.
Right-to-life groups ap
plauded Universal Press
Syndicate, which distri
butes the comic strip, for
convincing- Trudeau to
withdraw the series.
“Universal Press Syn
dicate deserves credit for
recognizing tasteless
humor that most of its
readership would un
doubtedly find offensive,”
said Dan Donehey, director
of public relations for the
National Right to Life Com
mittee in Washington.
Donehey said the syn
dicate “made both a wise
moral and business deci
sion” considering the
strength and diversity of
the pro-life movement.
According to Lee Salem,
editorial director of the
syndicate, the decision to
withdraw the strip was
made with Trudeau’s
agreement.
“We felt that due to the
exceptionally controversial
nature of the subject, that
this was not the best
medium (newspapers) in
which to release it,” he
said May 24.
“And we decided it was
not in the best interest of
the feature to release it to
newspapers, because too
many editors would pro
bably not run it,” he said.
The film in the comic
strip is narrated by a
character drawn to look
like Dr. Bernard N.
Nathanson, the former
abortion activist who nar
rated the film which
Trudeau’s series parodies.
Nathanson’s “Silent
Scream,” released earlier
this year, shows an ultra
sound videotape of a
12-week-old fetus being
aborted. Pro-life groups
have praised it as an
educational tool depicting
fetal pain, but critics have
said the film is misleading.
The parody, after in
troducing the Nathanson
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look alike, depicts
“Timmy” as an almost in
decipherable dot on an
otherwise vacant TV
screen.
In the third strip of the
series the narrator states
that the film “seeks to
make no judgments,” then
introduces “the murderess
herself,” the mother of the
12-minute-old embryo who
is about to be aborted.
The final sequence
depicts the narrator accus
ing the country, which
allows the abortions to oc
cur, of “tolerating nothing
less than a holocaust.” The
final panel shows the White
House, which has a voice
coming from it saying,
“Gosh, there’s that word
again,” a reference to
President Reagan’s con
troversial early May trip to
West Germany.
Richard McMunn, direc
tor of publications for the
Catholic League for
Religious and Civil Rights
in Milwaukee, said the syn
dicate “is to be applauded
for its discretion and sen
sitivity in the matter.”
“Five years ago, it
wouldn’t have hesitated for
a second to run this,” he
said, adding that the deci
sion “was probably made
because the syndicate
recognized that the
momentum in the abortion
debate is swinging toward
the pro-life view.”
“I am very disappointed
in Trudeau,” said
McMunn, who said he’s
been a fan of the strip for
years. “But I’m not sur
prised, because he has
taken very controversial
stands in the past.
“But in this, as in some of
his other stands, he ex
hibits a penchant for
ideological polemics as op
posed to arguing the case
on the merit of its facts,”
he said.
Father Edward M.
Bryce, director of the Na
tional Conference of
Catholic Bishops’ Office for
Pro-Life Activities, said
that the cartoon
caricatured the film, so, “I
would invite people whose
curiosity has been aroused
by the cartoon to view the
film that all the fuss is
about, which should be
available from their local
pro-life group.”
According to Donehey,
“Garry Trudeau is an ac
tive pro-abortionist who
has donated his cartoons to
the National Abortion
Rights Action League for it
to auction for its fund
raising efforts.
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NOT SO COMIC — Drawing shows second of
the six strips by Garry Trudeau to parody “The
Silent Scream.” The strip, withdrawn by
Universal Press Syndicate, appears in June 10
issue of New Republic. This drawing is used
with permission of Universal Press Syndicate.
Prelate Says Embargo Hurts
ROME (NC>-Cardinal-
designate Miguel Obando
Bravo of Managua,
Nicaragua, said May 24
that the United States’
trade embargo against his
country has aggravated a
difficult economic situa
tion.
The cardinal-designate,
who is an outspoken critic
of Nicaragua’s Sandinista
government, said people
already “face scarcity of
food.”
“The embargo further
aggravated this situation,”
he said.
President Reagan an
nounced the embargo May
1, accusing the Nicaraguan
government of exporting
revolution in Central
America. The action pro
hibits trade between the
countries, except for U.S.
export destined for anti-
Sandinista insurgents. It
also closes U.S. harbors
and airports to Nicaraguan
ships and airplanes.
Cardinal-designate
Obando Bravo was in
Rome for the May 25 con
sistory to formalize his
naming to the College of
Cardinals. He is the first
head of a Nicaraguan
diocese named to the col
lege.
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