‘Doonesbury’ Papers Won’t Get Six Strips on ‘Silent Scream’

Six “Doonesbury” comic strips centering on abortion were not distributed to newspapers because they might have been considered controversial and may not have been used, a Universal Press Syndicate official said Friday.

It was the first time since “Doonesbury” went into national syndication 15 years ago that the often-controversial comic has not been distributed.

The decision was reached mutually by officials of Universal Press and Doonesbury creator Garry Trudeau, said Lee Salem, editorial director at Universal Press.

The panels were printed in the June 10 issue of The New Republic under a special arrangement. The magazine was on newsstands last week.

The strips satirized the movie “The Silent Scream,” an anti-abortion film endorsed by President Reagan that has been shown on the Atlanta-based superstation WTBS. Copies of the film have been distributed to members of Congress.

The comic strip set up a sequel to “The Silent Scream”--”Silent Scream II”--in which an abortion occurred within 12 minutes of conception, Salem said.

According to the Washington Post, the narrator of “Silent Scream II” names the fetus “Timmy,” refers to the mother as a “murderess” and reports that the fetus’ last words were “Repeal Roe v. Wade,” referring to the U.S. Supreme Court decision allowing abortion.