We continue to share cartoons created for other organizations. This post on Vaginal Birth After Cesarean was created in 2016 for AwakenMichigan: Reproductive and Sexual Justice Project.
Author Archives: Mama
Not you too?
Image Credits
- Series logo: The mosaic floor fragment is from Wikipedia Commons. The donkey is by OCAL at clker.com. The gold coins are from kisspng.com. All three images are in the public domain.
- Frame 2: The hotel room and the man in the bathrobe are from pixabay.com, both shared under pixabay’s explicit license.
- Frame 3: The man and woman are from pixabay.com. The office photo is by Alex Kotliarskyi on unsplash.com, shared under unsplash’s explicit license.
- Frame 4: The office photo is by sigre on pixabay.com. The silhoutte of the fat woman in a skirt suit is from simple-drawing.com.
Updated April 9, 2019, to add copyright designation.
Handling it
Click each image to open a larger version in a new window.
Miscarriage, although frequent, is little talked about. When it is, there seems to be one mandatory script, the one in which any fetal loss is treated as that of a born child. While this feeling is as valid as any other, we all experience pregnancy loss differently. This cartoon shows another viewpoint.
Image Credits
Unless otherwise noted, all images are shared under a Creative Commons license.
- The title frame features an untitled photo by Erik Nielsen.
- Frame 2: Free Zoe Stock Photo, by Maria Paz Jimenez.
- Frame 3: untitled photo, by SweetMellowChill.
- Frame 4: pink phone image, by JESZ.
- Frame 5: 2096×1810 Sarah Forbes Art Napkin Sketch ~ Idolza.
- Frame 6: untitled photo, by jarmaluk, and Blood Clip Art, by LUIS BERMUDEZ.
- Frame 7: Serega (kitchen project), bySasha Kargaltsev. Photo has been flipped and cropped. Warning: original NSFW.
- Frame 8: Midwife Home Visit, by JCHaywire. Photo has been cropped, and a year (2003) was added to the notebook.
- Frame 9: Antenna Repairs, by JCHaywire. Photo has been cropped, and color was adjusted.
- Frame 10: Giraffe animal zoo, animals, no author listed.
- Frame 11: GALVESTON’S WEST BEACH ON THE GULF OF MEXICO DRAWS HUGE CROWDS–AND PROVIDES THE ENTERPRISING A CHANCE TO TURN A DOLLAR, by Blair Pittman. This photo is in the Public Domain.
- Frame 12: Calendar Clip Art, by OCAL.
Pushed and Consented
Photo by chuttersnap on Unsplash
Product announcement!
We are very pleased to announce that our 20-page booklet, Pushed and Consented: Rights in Childbirth?, is available for purchase on the Birth Rights Bar Association website. Click the cover image to go straight there!
Cartoons with explanatory text address the question mark in the title and lay out the current legal landscape. Buy your copy today!
If you would rather view the booklet online, it is available at this link. BRBA suggests making a donation if you choose view the booklet online.
Cry havoc
This cartoon was created in memory of Palestinian medic Razan al-Najjar, killed in Gaza.
Images and credits
- The sleeping dogs are from a photograph by Ing. Štefan Cimbalík, in the public domain.
- The bed is shared from a pngimg.com image, under a Creative Commons License.
- Israeli flags in Frame 1 and Frame 2 are by Ahkâm.
- The Palestinian flag is from kisspng.com.
- The rolled-over dog is from a photo by Alexas_Fotos, shared under a Creative Commons license.
- The medic’s vest is from an image on Clipart Panda.
- The bloodspot is by scro2003.
- The Doomsday clock is from iconspng.com.
- The blanket is from a photo from Riana Kristiani.
Catching up cartoons
The following cartoons were published on Facebook before they were posted here. Without further ado …
Subject-consent-object (SCO order!)
The usage “consent the patient” is one that horrified us when it first came to our attention. If any verb should be an active one, “consent” is the one.
Image credits
“Doctor Visit” is by mohamed mohamed mahmoud hassan, shared under a Creative Commons license. We added the facial features, which were chosen from assortments provided here and here. The framed picture is courtesy a collection of fantasy landscape cartoons.
Medicaid work requirement
The Michigan Legislature has decided to prioritize removing health care from expanded Medicaid recipients who are not working sufficient hours. They were able to do so because the federal government urged states to apply for waivers in order to allow exactly this kind of proposal.
Medicaid was not established in order to force people in need to abandon their families and work sub-subsistence-level service jobs; rather, its purpose is to provide health care for those who cannot afford to purchase it, even with the subsidies that the Affordable Care Act provides (so far!). When one of the Senators behind this bill claimed that “work improves health,” we were moved to create this cartoon.
For those who require a translation for the ironwork behind the Senator: Arbeit macht Gesundheit.
Michigan Governor Snyder has not yet signed the bill, which was enacted on June 7, 2018. We encourage him to veto this measure and instead throw his support behind federal proposals to institute Medicare for All.
Image credits
The Senator and his podium are from an image entitled “Presentation,” by Mani Amini. The audience is from a FEMA photo, in the public domain.
Non-Apology
So many non-apologies arrive in the passive tense, don’t they? Another cartoon in the Bureau of Apologies series.
This image only suggests the offensive words issued by the doctor representing the American Birth Doctors Association (ABDO). The real-life context in which a major professional organization suggested that women control rising maternal mortality rates by using condoms (!) is described here.
Image credits
Separation and selection
What kind of country ….?
We’ve seen this before.
Images and credits
- The Statue of Liberty photo is by Andrew Weber. The blue sky background has been replaced. The photo is in the public domain.
- The Border Patrol guard photo is by Josh Denmark, posted on Wikimedia Commons. It is in the public domain.
- The image of the Border Patrol logo is from Wikimedia Commons. It is in the public domain.
- The American flag is from cliparting.com, shared under a Creative Commons license.
Abandon reality
When the current political reality is so unsatisfactory, it seems only reasonable to try something else.
Images and credits
- We borrowed the gent in the cape from Rebels Market, an online “Counterculture Megastore.” While goth and steampunk aren’t exactly our style, we were quite taken with this black brocade coat.
- The nondescript building of Frame 2 is really a Navy Department Office in 1918 or 1919.
- The photo of the Oval Office is from the Clinton Administration.
- The staffer in the black suit is from pixabay.com, shared under a Creative Commons license.
- The photo of Mr. Trump is from the U.S. embassy in Uruguay.
- The forest trees wallpaper behind Mr. Trump’s photo is by elias_noessing, shared under a Creative Commons license.
- The hand holding Donny & Ahmed is from clker.com, shared under a Creative Commons license.
Finally, inspiration for this cartoon’s concept came from the work of Ben Katchor. Seek out his comic-strips – you won’t be disappointed!
Ejected!
In an extension of an already ludicrous policy, we bring you this flight of fancy:
Images and credits
- The photo of Orrin Hatch at the podium, meant to represent him presiding over the Senate, comes from his Senate website.
- The photo of Tammie Duckworth comes from her Senate website. Everything and everyone in the original photo aside from Sen. Duckworth has been edited out.
- The background photo of the Brumidi Corridors is taken from the GovernmentBookTalk website.
Bureau of Apologies: Melanie Trump
Not speaking
Another cartoon in the Bureau of Apologies series!
Mama's Got a Plan: 
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