Doonesbury by Garry Trudeau for May 14, 2015

Sorry, pardner, there ain’t no third option.

You might do better this time around…

Oh, this is 1982. Terminate!

Does the baby come with a 30 year-return warranty?

…Rick is still in shock…

Amen, Ditto, Concur…

It is also just a academic question to them. Very few right-to-lifers have had any actual experiences that would put them in a position to contemplate an abortion. I was molested from age 11-14 by my father. At any time I could have gotten pregnant. Then when I was pregnant with my youngest I started hemorrhaging. The ultrasound showed signs of a very rare condition. If she had it she would be dead by age 5 (only 2 cases lived into their 20s). She would have been a vegetable in constant pain. Those 2 cases were kept alive via feeding tubes. that is NOT a life. Amniocentesis would have proved definitively, however they felt that would cause a miscarriage. The state I lived in a t the time allowed abortion up to the 24 week. The hemorrhaging started in my 16th week. 10 ultra sounds later it showed the cyst wasn’t on her, but on the placenta. That happened in my 22nd week. I had decided if the next ultrasound hadn’t improved I would abort and her soul could go back to the creator. I’ll never understand why the religious right would want to force a child into a life where it is not wanted & thereby having its soul contaminated. In an abortion the soul is still pure. Believe it or not I am NOT a Christian or a member of any other faith. Sorry about the long-windedness. Regulars here know I never shut up once I get going.

On a completely shorter comment I saw “The” episode of “Maude”, and I have to say that Bea Arthur & Norman Lear were brave to do the show at a time when we were coming to grips with Roe v Wade.

Could someone please tell me just how old Joanie and Rick are supposed to be in this strip?

I’m not sure of their exact ages, but Joanie has an adult daughter (Joan Jr. – JJ) and I believe that Rick is older.

Joanie’s IQ is 100 and Rick’s IQ is 0 so Jeff’s IQ of 50 is perfectly logical.

“WE don’t like abortions either. however, we want to minimize it by TEACHING proper sex-ed in school (no abstinence crap). BUT keep the procedure safe and legal.” Of course… all you have to to it to tell people the facts and that will stop them… What planet are you living on? "Safe and legal? Not for their child.

Option A: You’re going to end up with trouble, all right.Option B: Abort the Red Rascal? How dare you?

How about a 101st trimester abortion?

I think Joanie had her 70th birthday soon before she went to work for Elizabeth Warren – and that’s a few years ago. Counting back, she might be nearing 40 in today’s strip.

I don’t remember them having kids…..?

OK, how about Rick? Can anyone compute his age?

Glad to see Rick is thinking clearly. The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.

I think Joanie is in her early to mid 40’s. They used to be called Change of Life babies. That period of time (which can cover several or more years) when the female body makes every male’s life miserable. A/C on in the winter. Heater on in the summer. And just hand over chocolate – every day.What does Rick think the 3rd option would be? Pixie dust and aliens?

After all that they ended up with Jeff, so they go trouble anyway.

Well, adoption is an option, after all.

according to Wikipedia: On March 3, 1974 Joanie, applying to law school, gives her birthdate as July 21, 19353 but in a January 2009 appearance, Joanie describes herself as a 70-year-old retired civil servant born in 1938. She and Rick Redfern still live in Washington DC.

Artists often take some liberties with certain elements such as age of characters in order to fit the story line.

Yup — only 2 ways out of this situation — which is better than a few years earlier when there was only 1 way out.

I think there is a woman around 66 or 67 who is currently pregnant with multiples. The oldest delivery I think is 70. Every time I think I’m safe, they up the age again.