Monday, March 12, 2012

Author defends "Doonesbury" abortion strip

(Reuters) - "Doonesbury" author Garry Trudeau on Friday defended an upcoming strip that some newspapers rejected and others have questioned because it deals with a Texas abortion law the cartoonist described as "lunacy."

The law, which went into effect earlier this year and requires abortion providers perform an ultrasound before the procedure, is intended to give pause to pregnant women and possibly motivate them to reconsider their decision.

Trudeau said in an email that the "party of limited government," a reference to Republicans, has legislated "onerous preconditions for a perfectly legal procedure" and withdrawn funds for reproductive health services that prevent unwanted pregnancies.

"This is happening in statehouses across the country," Trudeau said in the statement. "It's lunacy, and lunacy, of course, is in my wheelhouse."

A similar bill was signed into law earlier this week by Virginia's Republican Governor Bob McDonnell.

The cartoon's story line for Monday through Saturday tells of a woman who goes to a Texas clinic to have the procedure and is forced to get a sonogram, said Sue Roush, managing editor for Universal Uclick, the syndicate behind "Doonesbury."

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 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.

'OVER THE LINE'

In fact, Portland newspaper The Oregonian said on its website on Friday that it will not run the strip. The cartoon "went over the line of good taste and humor in penning a series on abortion using graphic language and images inappropriate for a comics page," wrote the paper's features editor.

The Los Angeles Times has decided to run the strip in the paper's Opinion section and use an alternate "Doonesbury" in its regular place, Nancy Sullivan, a spokeswoman for the paper, said in an email statement.

"When taken in its entirety the editors of the Los Angeles Times determined that the series is not appropriate for our comics pages," she said.

Media writer Jim Romenesko on his website cited a features editor with Minnesota newspaper St. Paul Pioneer Press who said the publication would run a substitution strip in print and direct readers online if they want to read the abortion cartoon.

It was not immediately clear which other newspapers may have elected to bar the strip, and Roush would not name the publications that asked questions of her company.

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.

Carol Tobias, president of anti-abortion group National Right to Life, said the purpose of the law is to help women "make a life or death decision."

"This is an attempt to give women all the relevant information that is available," Tobias said.

A coalition of medical providers sued Texas 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.



Literary Barbie

Friday, March 2, 2012

Amanda Knox signs book deal with Harper Collins

(Reuters) - Amanda Knox, the American former college student cleared of murder in October by an Italian court, has sold her memoir to HarperCollins, a spokeswoman for the publishing house said on Thursday.

The HarperCollins spokeswoman declined to comment on financial terms of the deal or elaborate on plans for the book, saying further details would be released in a statement on Friday.

Representatives for Knox, a 24-year-old former University of Washington student convicted of murder while studying in Perugia, Italy, said she would have no comment.

A source familiar with the deal said Knox would tell her story in the memoir, including details of the sensational case and her imprisonment in Italy.

The book deal follows a bidding war between U.S. publishers over rights to any memoir written by Knox with a price tag expected to be well over a million dollars, according to book industry insiders.

The memoir was considered a hot property because the world has yet to hear all the details from Knox, who was found guilty in 2009 of murdering her 21-year-old British housemate, Meredith Kercher, and spent four years in prison.

An Italian court in overturned Knox's conviction in October.

Also cleared was her boyfriend, Rafaele Sollecito, leaving Ivorian drifter Rudy Guede as the only person convicted in a killing investigators believe was carried out by more than one person.

The New York Times has reported that Sollecito has retained a literary agent to shop a book of his own.

Knox was also convicted of slander over statements she made under police questioning that falsely implicated bar owner Patrick Lumumba in Kercher's murder.

Earlier this month her Italian attorneys asked an appeals court there to overturn that conviction as well.

Kercher's half-naked body was found with stab wounds and a deep gash in her throat in the apartment she shared with Knox in Perugia, Italy in November of 2007.

Knox, a former University of Washington student, was released from custody following the ruling and returned home to Seattle, where she has largely avoided the public eye.