I’ll buy this ‘reverence for innocent life’ when I see similar focus on death-dealing firearms, children’s’ health and poverty, compassion for migrants, and educational excellence at all levels.
Now lowlifes will start stalking pregnant women and accusing heart broken hearted women who have had a miscarriage of having an abortion 10K is a lot of money to some people. And illegal abortion is much worse than legal abortion. People who weren’t alive or very young when it was illegal don’t remember all the wretched deaths that occurred to women getting illegal abortions. Incidentally,, abortion was not illegal until laws passed during the 1800’s
So now Texas doesn’t believe in individual freedom. No more autonomy for women? Texas will allow open carry of guns which will cause more accidental deaths. Also, no masks or vaccines for kids in school. If they don’t trust the vaccines, then how about setting up more labs and clinical trials?
What about respecting existing life? Forcing rape victims to carry unwanted and undeserved babies? Or making a woman carry severely malformed fetuses to a fatal term? What about forcing a woman to miscarry a dying fetus and killing her future fertility? Making a homeless woman have a child she can’t afford to feed? What about all that, you arrogant Texas legislative a—holes? You willing to let your wife die because you won’t let her have a medically required abortion? I think we should be able to make $10000 by suing you legislators and the governor for malfeasance and for wrongful deaths when they occur. Let’s put a bounty on your heads just like you have done to the lifesaving doctors and even to the Uber drivers. I am just so disgusted with you political, hypocritical whores…just to garner votes for the greed of power.
So a child whose only “crime” is the sins of the donors and we are going to subject them to, no pre natal care, substance abuse, possibly being dumped in a dumpster, sub human housing, lack of nutrition all before the age of 5. When that child goes to school, if lucky, will get on the free breakfast and lunch program, only to return home to an empty house or apartment, no supper, and no healthcare. Chances are good that the father (if known ) is resentful of support and will maybe shake the child to death for crying or just shoot it. I wonder how much they will enjoy the active shooter drills in the schools because of the gun laws and the people that keep falling thru the cracks that get the guns. Seems to me that abortion would be a kinder choice than putting the child through this kind of torture. And if you don’t believe that this is a possible outcome, read the papers.
Don’t tell me either that it is so easy to adopt in the US, I had to go overseas to do so because the laws here are so strict.
I guess the broken hearts of those who carry unwanted children don’t count. And.. “perhaps” some of those unwanted children will grow up to be responsible adults but the odds are they will be leaders in tomorrow’s gangs.
When does one become a human being? Is it at the formation of a zygote, i.e., at the fusion of ovum and sperm because it is now a diploid cell? But adult humans are constantly shedding diploid cells throughout their lives. Is it at 2 weeks when gastrulation of the embryo occurs in which the ordering and individuality of the organism (or organisms if twinning occurred) is defined? Or is it at the beginning of organized brain activity at 24-27 weeks? Since death is usually defined as the end of brain activity, there is a symmetry to that criterion. Or is it when the fetus has developed to a degree that it is viable outside the uterus, also at about 24 weeks? Or is it at birth? Is there in fact any instant of time at which it can be said this is a human being or is being a human a process, not a single distinct step?
20%, or 1 in 4 Texas children experiences hunger. Hunger deprives kids of more than just food. According to Feeding America, kids who don’t get enough to eat — especially during their first three years — begin life at a serious disadvantage. When they’re hungry, children are more likely to be hospitalized, and they face higher risks of health conditions like anemia and asthma. As they grow up, kids struggling to eat are more likely to have problems in school and other social situations.
This is very disingenuous. I would respect the republican position if there was concern about people dying from gun violence. They prioritize life if not born yet. They prioritize their personal freedom if the life has been born. It’s sick and perverted.
Coming from a state that ranks #1 in Death Row executions.
“Pro-Life” where you force the woman to carry a fetus, yet deny her funding for access to prenatal care, checkups, nutrition, or even help pay for hospital costs for delivery. After you force her to give birth to a child she didn’t want or couldn’t take care of in the first place, you then abandon her (as if you ever supported her in the first place), and cut funding for food, housing, education and tell her that the child is her responsibility and if she doesn’t raise it “right” she will be put in jail.
“Pro-Life” indeed. You don’t give a crap about the mother, none really for the child, and glad to kill them under any pretense after they’re born through lax safety regulations, denied/substandard medical care, and aggressive death penalties for crimes, guilty or not.
At six weeks, it is an embryo, not a fetus and there isn’t a heart. But don’t let facts get in your way.
Pro-choice is NOT pro-abortion, it is leaving the decision up to a woman and her doctor.
The U.S. Catholic clergy keep trying to block Catholics from getting communion strictly based on abortion. Funny that they can ignore their vile history of raping children and covering it up for decades. They also don’t seem to be concerned about the lack of support from Republicans for those in need and loving (re your neighbor, which were the things that Jesus talked about.
Women should have control over their own bodies, especially their own reproductive choices. Absolutely. At some point however, a fetus developing in a uterus is not that woman’s body, it is someone else’s, and no one has automatic legal authority over someone else’s body and life. Actions and choices have consequences. We are in the process of legally determining when that which is developing within a woman’s body is someone other than the woman.
So, Mr. Varvel, since these “heartbeats” are so important to you, HOW MANY children are you willing to adopt or at least financially care for after they’re born??? After all, their “heartbeats” don’t end at birth…
Gary Varvel never misses an opportunity to portray embryos as conscious, sentient beings. They aren’t, and nothing in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament says they are (I only mention this because religious beliefs usually determine one’s attitude toward abortion, if indeed any attitude is held). At six weeks, the embryo has no circulatory system, only a mass of cells with electrical impulses that will, if undisturbed, form one — in other words, no heartbeat. The other side of the argument, and a very important one, is why the state should have authority over a woman’s body in these matters, and I don’t believe Varvel has ever addressed this important topic.
Gary – usually I frown upon your conservative views and your terrible trumpism. But in this case I must agree with you. “My body, my choice” – yes, indeed; but the baby’s body is not yours.
Does Texas care about the fetuses who are miscarried due to pollution? Does Texas care once the fetus becomes a baby and needs food, shelter, day care so their poor mother/parents can work? I am not a fan of abortion, but if someone is going to have one I would prefer it be safe … and my preference is to make it easier for women to carry the baby to term and still work/finish school with subsidized day care. But that costs money … as does fixing the pollution problems. It is easy to feel morally superior keeping someone else from doing something you find sinful when it costs you NOTHING! But if you aren’t willing to pay more YOURSELF to lower the pollutants causing miscarriages as well as the programs that provide support for a child born into low-income households your moral superiority is pretty shallow. And with no exceptions for rape and incest — how about the many women who are raped and choose to carry their baby to term only to end up having their rapist given weekend visits to said child. It would be nice if the issue were as simple as Pro-life and Pro-abortion activists declare it to be.
That’s not a baby at 6 weeks, it’s a fetus, just beyond a blastula. It’s not a heart moving blood around, just some electrical charges getting ready to start forming major organs. Stop with the uneducated, disrespectful comics. BTW – you’ve never even had to consider this choice WM. This “debate” is all about control of other humans. If you are really “pro-life” then you should be advocating for removal of the death-penalty as well. Hypocrite.
FYI: there is no fetal heartbeat, and for that matter, not even a fetus at six weeks of pregnancy (which is four weeks after conception). The embryo does not have a heart at six weeks. Doppler imaging with ultrasound can detect a flow of blood within the embryo at about six weeks, but there is no heart yet; this is a slow pulsing in the tube that will eventually become the heart and most of the central cardiovascular system. The sound you may hear during an ultrasound is not a real sound; it’s sonar data converted to sound, which ends up being a sort of whoosing noise, somewhat slower than what you will detect if you aim the ultrasound wand at the mother’s aorta. (Once the embryo becomes a fetus, about a month later, and has an actual heart, the pulse rate goes up very rapidly to what is more normal for a human baby.)
Fetal heart monitors do not produce the wavy lines you’re used to with an EKG; it isn’t possible to get probes into the right places to pick up any electrical activity. All you can expect to accomplish is to detect the motion of blood by the Doppler shift in the ultrasound waves being reflected by it.
So, to summarize, this cartoon is grossly misleading and woefully ignorant to the reality of embryonic development. But who needs facts when you have emotion?
2AndFour almost 3 years ago
Enjoy freedom but most importantly respect new life.
Kurtass Premium Member almost 3 years ago
A better analogy would be the constitution being fed into a paper shredder, with the Texas seal on the side.
The Nodding Head almost 3 years ago
I’ll buy this ‘reverence for innocent life’ when I see similar focus on death-dealing firearms, children’s’ health and poverty, compassion for migrants, and educational excellence at all levels.
suzalee almost 3 years ago
Now lowlifes will start stalking pregnant women and accusing heart broken hearted women who have had a miscarriage of having an abortion 10K is a lot of money to some people. And illegal abortion is much worse than legal abortion. People who weren’t alive or very young when it was illegal don’t remember all the wretched deaths that occurred to women getting illegal abortions. Incidentally,, abortion was not illegal until laws passed during the 1800’s
dotbup almost 3 years ago
When does life begin?
When you leave Texas.
NobodyAwesome Premium Member almost 3 years ago
So now Texas doesn’t believe in individual freedom. No more autonomy for women? Texas will allow open carry of guns which will cause more accidental deaths. Also, no masks or vaccines for kids in school. If they don’t trust the vaccines, then how about setting up more labs and clinical trials?
hoot1 almost 3 years ago
What about respecting existing life? Forcing rape victims to carry unwanted and undeserved babies? Or making a woman carry severely malformed fetuses to a fatal term? What about forcing a woman to miscarry a dying fetus and killing her future fertility? Making a homeless woman have a child she can’t afford to feed? What about all that, you arrogant Texas legislative a—holes? You willing to let your wife die because you won’t let her have a medically required abortion? I think we should be able to make $10000 by suing you legislators and the governor for malfeasance and for wrongful deaths when they occur. Let’s put a bounty on your heads just like you have done to the lifesaving doctors and even to the Uber drivers. I am just so disgusted with you political, hypocritical whores…just to garner votes for the greed of power.
hoot1 almost 3 years ago
Oh, and I’m disgusted with you too Varvel…your feigned righteousness is pathetic…
MaryBethJavorek1 almost 3 years ago
So a child whose only “crime” is the sins of the donors and we are going to subject them to, no pre natal care, substance abuse, possibly being dumped in a dumpster, sub human housing, lack of nutrition all before the age of 5. When that child goes to school, if lucky, will get on the free breakfast and lunch program, only to return home to an empty house or apartment, no supper, and no healthcare. Chances are good that the father (if known ) is resentful of support and will maybe shake the child to death for crying or just shoot it. I wonder how much they will enjoy the active shooter drills in the schools because of the gun laws and the people that keep falling thru the cracks that get the guns. Seems to me that abortion would be a kinder choice than putting the child through this kind of torture. And if you don’t believe that this is a possible outcome, read the papers.
Don’t tell me either that it is so easy to adopt in the US, I had to go overseas to do so because the laws here are so strict.
Judge Magney almost 3 years ago
Superficial, sanctimonious, and defiant of basic science. I give this cartoon one coathanger (out of five).
Alberta Oil Premium Member almost 3 years ago
I guess the broken hearts of those who carry unwanted children don’t count. And.. “perhaps” some of those unwanted children will grow up to be responsible adults but the odds are they will be leaders in tomorrow’s gangs.
thelordthygod666 almost 3 years ago
Gary, this is simple. Unless it is your own uterus, you don’t get to make the choice.
martens almost 3 years ago
Repost:
When does one become a human being? Is it at the formation of a zygote, i.e., at the fusion of ovum and sperm because it is now a diploid cell? But adult humans are constantly shedding diploid cells throughout their lives. Is it at 2 weeks when gastrulation of the embryo occurs in which the ordering and individuality of the organism (or organisms if twinning occurred) is defined? Or is it at the beginning of organized brain activity at 24-27 weeks? Since death is usually defined as the end of brain activity, there is a symmetry to that criterion. Or is it when the fetus has developed to a degree that it is viable outside the uterus, also at about 24 weeks? Or is it at birth? Is there in fact any instant of time at which it can be said this is a human being or is being a human a process, not a single distinct step?
https://theconversation.com/when-human-life-begins-is-a-question-of-politics-not-biology-165514
Radish the wordsmith almost 3 years ago
Varvel loves the Republican cancel culture that ended 50 years of freedom for women.
Radish the wordsmith almost 3 years ago
I hear migrant children also have heartbeats.
grange Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Because every embryo yearns to become an unwanted child.
superposition almost 3 years ago
Irrational priorities?
20%, or 1 in 4 Texas children experiences hunger. Hunger deprives kids of more than just food. According to Feeding America, kids who don’t get enough to eat — especially during their first three years — begin life at a serious disadvantage. When they’re hungry, children are more likely to be hospitalized, and they face higher risks of health conditions like anemia and asthma. As they grow up, kids struggling to eat are more likely to have problems in school and other social situations.
http://www.feedingtexas.org/learn/
https://www.feedingtexas.org/learn/what-is-food-insecurity/
lonecat almost 3 years ago
Varvel needs to construct a fantasy to support his position. I won’t call it an argument, because it’s not.
Radish the wordsmith almost 3 years ago
Send wire hangers to Gov Abbott, 1010 Colorado St, Austin, TX 78701
Frankfreak almost 3 years ago
I miss Ann Richards and Mollie Ivins.
tamrich59 almost 3 years ago
Imagine being upset that babies can live!
Radish the wordsmith almost 3 years ago
Cancel culture republicans are trying to destroy our voting rights and our reproductive rights.
Vidrinath Premium Member almost 3 years ago
An actual cartoonist at work:
https://www.gocomics.com/kal/2021/09/07
StackableContainers almost 3 years ago
This is very disingenuous. I would respect the republican position if there was concern about people dying from gun violence. They prioritize life if not born yet. They prioritize their personal freedom if the life has been born. It’s sick and perverted.
The Love of Money is . . . almost 3 years ago
How about a cartoon of a polygraph hooked up to the G.Q.P. to see if they’re lying . . ./S
Patjade almost 3 years ago
Coming from a state that ranks #1 in Death Row executions.
“Pro-Life” where you force the woman to carry a fetus, yet deny her funding for access to prenatal care, checkups, nutrition, or even help pay for hospital costs for delivery. After you force her to give birth to a child she didn’t want or couldn’t take care of in the first place, you then abandon her (as if you ever supported her in the first place), and cut funding for food, housing, education and tell her that the child is her responsibility and if she doesn’t raise it “right” she will be put in jail.
“Pro-Life” indeed. You don’t give a crap about the mother, none really for the child, and glad to kill them under any pretense after they’re born through lax safety regulations, denied/substandard medical care, and aggressive death penalties for crimes, guilty or not.
Same2Ubuddy almost 3 years ago
Liberal theology hates when they can’t sacrifice children.
Nantucket Premium Member almost 3 years ago
At six weeks, it is an embryo, not a fetus and there isn’t a heart. But don’t let facts get in your way.
Pro-choice is NOT pro-abortion, it is leaving the decision up to a woman and her doctor.
The U.S. Catholic clergy keep trying to block Catholics from getting communion strictly based on abortion. Funny that they can ignore their vile history of raping children and covering it up for decades. They also don’t seem to be concerned about the lack of support from Republicans for those in need and loving (re your neighbor, which were the things that Jesus talked about.
Holden Awn almost 3 years ago
Women should have control over their own bodies, especially their own reproductive choices. Absolutely. At some point however, a fetus developing in a uterus is not that woman’s body, it is someone else’s, and no one has automatic legal authority over someone else’s body and life. Actions and choices have consequences. We are in the process of legally determining when that which is developing within a woman’s body is someone other than the woman.
VadimUzdensky1 almost 3 years ago
But fetuses at that point don’t actually HAVE hearts. This whole thing about heart beats in unscientific.
dnie1951 almost 3 years ago
Fetal Lives Matter.
drbeth almost 3 years ago
So, Mr. Varvel, since these “heartbeats” are so important to you, HOW MANY children are you willing to adopt or at least financially care for after they’re born??? After all, their “heartbeats” don’t end at birth…
apfelzra Premium Member almost 3 years ago
Gary Varvel never misses an opportunity to portray embryos as conscious, sentient beings. They aren’t, and nothing in the Hebrew Bible or New Testament says they are (I only mention this because religious beliefs usually determine one’s attitude toward abortion, if indeed any attitude is held). At six weeks, the embryo has no circulatory system, only a mass of cells with electrical impulses that will, if undisturbed, form one — in other words, no heartbeat. The other side of the argument, and a very important one, is why the state should have authority over a woman’s body in these matters, and I don’t believe Varvel has ever addressed this important topic.
freshmeet2030 almost 3 years ago
We should call it “Blastula Removal” until 30 weeks, when it finally becomes a fetus.
No one would stop a blastula removal.
DrDon1 almost 3 years ago
Sadly, Varvel continues to give his opinion(s) even when he is ignorant of the subject!
IDEALeducation almost 3 years ago
Great that Varvel can offer a male perspective. Much needed. Now, where is that sarcasm symbol on this keyboard…
flpmlp almost 3 years ago
Isn’t it terrible? They are trying to keep people from killing babies!! Oh! The infamy!
Concretionist almost 3 years ago
At the point where the GQP POLITICANS have decided a heartbeat is discernible, the fetus has no heart.
https://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/fetus-6-weeks.html
leifand Premium Member over 2 years ago
Gary – usually I frown upon your conservative views and your terrible trumpism. But in this case I must agree with you. “My body, my choice” – yes, indeed; but the baby’s body is not yours.
KarenLaRae Premium Member over 2 years ago
Does Texas care about the fetuses who are miscarried due to pollution? Does Texas care once the fetus becomes a baby and needs food, shelter, day care so their poor mother/parents can work? I am not a fan of abortion, but if someone is going to have one I would prefer it be safe … and my preference is to make it easier for women to carry the baby to term and still work/finish school with subsidized day care. But that costs money … as does fixing the pollution problems. It is easy to feel morally superior keeping someone else from doing something you find sinful when it costs you NOTHING! But if you aren’t willing to pay more YOURSELF to lower the pollutants causing miscarriages as well as the programs that provide support for a child born into low-income households your moral superiority is pretty shallow. And with no exceptions for rape and incest — how about the many women who are raped and choose to carry their baby to term only to end up having their rapist given weekend visits to said child. It would be nice if the issue were as simple as Pro-life and Pro-abortion activists declare it to be.
307jevans Premium Member over 2 years ago
This bill outlaws abortions starting two months before a fetal heart begins to beat.
mahoneygardens Premium Member over 2 years ago
That’s not a baby at 6 weeks, it’s a fetus, just beyond a blastula. It’s not a heart moving blood around, just some electrical charges getting ready to start forming major organs. Stop with the uneducated, disrespectful comics. BTW – you’ve never even had to consider this choice WM. This “debate” is all about control of other humans. If you are really “pro-life” then you should be advocating for removal of the death-penalty as well. Hypocrite.
calliarcale over 2 years ago
FYI: there is no fetal heartbeat, and for that matter, not even a fetus at six weeks of pregnancy (which is four weeks after conception). The embryo does not have a heart at six weeks. Doppler imaging with ultrasound can detect a flow of blood within the embryo at about six weeks, but there is no heart yet; this is a slow pulsing in the tube that will eventually become the heart and most of the central cardiovascular system. The sound you may hear during an ultrasound is not a real sound; it’s sonar data converted to sound, which ends up being a sort of whoosing noise, somewhat slower than what you will detect if you aim the ultrasound wand at the mother’s aorta. (Once the embryo becomes a fetus, about a month later, and has an actual heart, the pulse rate goes up very rapidly to what is more normal for a human baby.)
Fetal heart monitors do not produce the wavy lines you’re used to with an EKG; it isn’t possible to get probes into the right places to pick up any electrical activity. All you can expect to accomplish is to detect the motion of blood by the Doppler shift in the ultrasound waves being reflected by it.
So, to summarize, this cartoon is grossly misleading and woefully ignorant to the reality of embryonic development. But who needs facts when you have emotion?