Cartoonist Telnaes Who Drew Ted Cruz’s Children as Monkeys Winner of Planned Parenthood’s ‘Maggie’ Award for Media Excellence

Ann Telnaes – who drew the controversial cartoon of 2016 GOP contender Ted Cruz’s two daughters as monkeys – won Planned Parenthood’s Maggie Award for Media Excellence in 2002, for her “editorial cartoons in support of reproductive rights.”

The award is named after the abortion business’ founder, eugenicist Margaret Sanger.

Planned Parenthood lists the Maggie Award winners for 2002 as follows:

2002

• Ellen Goodman, syndicated columnist for the Boston Globe, special award for consistently insightful opinions about the need to protect women’s reproductive health and rights
• San Diego Union-Tribune, for “Girl and Boy, Interrupted”
• Ann Telnaes, syndicated cartoonist, Tribune Media Service, for editorial cartoons in support of reproductive rights
• Essence magazine for “In Case of Emergency” and “If All Else Fails”
• ABC News 20/20 for “Abortion & Terrorism”
• MPH Entertainment, Inc. for The History of Sex in the 20th Century
• Sexuality Information and Education Council of the U.S. (SIECUS) for its Web site, http://www.siecus.org/
• NBC-TV for Law & Order: Criminal Intent — “The Third Horseman” episode
• NBC-TV for Days of Our Lives for daytime drama about sexual and reproductive health
• HBO for Sex and the City for its treatment of sexual and reproductive health issues
• Daimler-Chrysler for a television advertisement that uses sexuality in a positive and humorous way
• Fast Company magazine for “Planned Parenthood’s 25-Year Plan”

The Washington Post removed Telnaes’ cartoon after Cruz told the paper his daughters were off limits for political attacks. Breitbart News reported on the controversy.

The cartoon depicted Cruz’s 5- and 7 year-old daughters as monkeys on a leash while Cruz himself is portrayed wearing a Santa Claus suit holding a crank music box to which the girls’ leashes are attached.

“There is an unspoken rule in editorial cartooning that a politician’s children are off-limits,” Telnaes admitted.

People don’t get to choose their family members so obviously it’s unfair to ridicule kids for their parent’s behavior while in office or on the campaign trail- besides, they’re children. There are plenty of adults in the political world who act childish, so there is no need for an editorial cartoonist to target actual children.