Papers were debating the use and placement of next week's strips by cartoonist Garry Trudeau, whose sarcastic swipes at society's foibles have a history of giving headaches to newspaper editors.
"We've heard from a handful of papers that are uncomfortable with running the series," said Sue Roush, managing editor at the Universal UClick syndicate. "Garry has provided us with substitutes in case anyone asks."
The Texas series features a woman who goes to an abortion clinic and is confronted by several people who suggest she should be ashamed. Among them is a doctor who reads a script on behalf of Texas Gov. Rick Perry welcoming her to a "compulsory transvaginal exam," and a middle-aged legislator who calls her a "slut."
One panel equates the invasive procedure to rape and describes the device used to perform it as a "10-inch shaming wand."
"Our readers are accustomed to pointed political and social commentary in strips like `Doonesbury' and `Mallard Fillmore,"' Tom McNiff, managing editor of The Gainesville Sun and Ocala Star-Banner in central Florida, said in an emailed statement explaining his papers' decision not to run the series. "But the language the author used to make his point in two of the strips was quite graphic for a general readership."
Texas' law does not specify the type of sonogram a woman must receive, but an invasive transvaginal ultrasound is necessary to meet requirements that the doctor show the woman an image of the fetus, describe its features and make the fetal heartbeat audible in the first trimester. The procedure uses a wand inserted in the vagina to yield an image instead of a wand rubbed over a woman's belly.
Asked for a comment on the "Doonesbury" series, Perry spokesman Catherine Frasier said, "The decision to end a life isn't funny."
Several newspapers that already publish "Doonesbury" on opinion pages said the Texas series still would run, while others said they would move the series from the comics to op-ed pages.
Steve Shirk, manager editor of The Kansas City Star, said his paper would use the replacements in the comics section.
"We felt the content was too much for many of the readers of our family friendly comic page," Shirk said. "We felt that (op-ed) page was more appropriate for that story line."
Chris Mele, executive editor of the Pocono Record in Stroudsburg, Pa., said the paper will run the replacement strips during the week, but the Texas series will appear March 18 on the front of its op-ed section.
He said the paper would explain why it decided to do so and try to "have a dialogue" with its readers about the debate.
Universal UClick president Lee Salem said he wouldn't be surprised if 20 to 30 of the 1,400 newspapers that carry "Doonesbury" decided to opt out and run the replacements.
"Once every five or six months there's usually something in `Doonesbury' that causes a stir. Every two or three years there's something that causes a bigger stir. This is probably one of those times," Salem said. "Historically, that's par for the course with `Doonesbury' because Garry explores topics on comics pages that are not normally there."
Six installments of "Doonesbury" satirizing the anti-abortion movie "The Silent Scream" were canceled in 1985 when the syndicate decided they were too controversial to be distributed.
States other than Texas recently have enacted laws requiring pre-abortion ultrasounds, although Virginia removed a provision from its measure that specifically called for the invasive exam. The measure in its original form had become a target of national political columnists and the word "transvaginal" was mocked and parodied on "Saturday Night Live" and "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
