Around a dozen U.S. newspapers have raised questions about an abortion-related "Doonesbury" comic strip set for publication next week, and some will likely not run it, the syndicate behind the cartoon said on Friday.
The cartoon's story line for Monday through Saturday focuses on a Texas law that requires abortion providers to perform an ultrasound on pregnant women before the procedure, said Sue Roush, managing editor for Universal Uclick, the syndicate behind "Doonesbury."
The law, which went into effect earlier this year, is intended to give pause to pregnant women before having an abortion and possibly reconsider their decision.
A similar bill was signed into law earlier this week by Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell that also requires women to have an ultrasound before an abortion.
In the "Doonesbury" strip, a woman goes to a Texas clinic to have the procedure and is forced to get a sonogram, Roush said.
The cartoon ends with the woman going home to wait 24 hours before having the abortion, as the Texas law requires, Roush said. The woman is a new character in "Doonesbury," she said.
Editors from about a dozen newspapers have reached out to Universal Uclick with questions about the strip authored by Pulitzer Prize winner Garry Trudeau, with some newspapers asking about whether an alternate strip will be offered, Roush said.
"I would imagine that some will make that choice" not to run the abortion-related strip, Roush said.
It was not immediately clear which newspapers may have elected to bar the strip, and Roush would not name the publications that asked questions of her company.
An official with the Texas Daily Newspaper Association said she was not aware of any newspapers avoiding the strip.
Universal Uclick is offering an alternate from a year ago for those newspapers that want it, Roush said.
In 1985, Trudeau and his syndicate reached a mutual decision not to distribute strips that satirized the anti-abortion movie "The Silent Scream" which they thought would be controversial. The New Republic magazine ultimately ran the strips.
The Texas law "Doonesbury" is highlighting has proved controversial since lawmakers approved it last year.
It requires abortion providers to perform an ultrasound on pregnant women, show and describe the image to them, and play sounds of the fetal heartbeat. Women can decline to view images or hear the heartbeat, but they must listen to a description of the exam.
A coalition of medical providers sued state officials last year over the law, arguing it made doctors a "mouthpiece" for the state's ideological message.
A U.S. district judge blocked parts of the statute, but a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit overturned that ruling and allowed the law to take effect.
