The Race is Off
January 31, 2012 
14 Comments
In case you don’t have the Internet and haven’t heard: Susan G. Komen has redacted its financial support for breast health services at Planned Parenthood. Some people are mad. Some people are so proud of Susan G. Komen for un-friending the baby-killers.
I’m mad. Here’s why:
You can be for or against abortion and still value all the other services Planned Parenthood provides. Why? Because federal money, state money and Susan G. Komen money don’t pay for abortions.
You can be for or against abortion and still understand that the best way to reduce the rate of abortion is to ensure easy, cheap access to birth control. Incidentally, that’s exactly what Planned Parenthood does.
You can be for or against abortion and still understand that the best way to prevent suffering and deaths caused by breast cancer is to detect the cancer early. Planned Parenthood provides breast health services to women without insurance at a price they can afford — until now, in part because it received funding from Susan G. Komen. The breast cancer research and education foundation has contributed almost $80,000 to Planned Parenthood breast health programs in Washington and North Idaho since 2008, according to the local Planned Parenthood chapter. Those funds paid for breast health services for low-income, uninsured patients.
You can be political and wrap your mind around nuances. You can wrestle with the controversial and still support the good. But that takes guts.
Please have some guts and let Susan G. Komen know that you’re smarter than the haters pressuring them to make ignorant political statements that hurt women. This is not about abortion. It’s about access to affordable breast health services.
Three things you can do to pressure Komen to reverse its decision:
- Find something else to do this April on the day of the Race for the Cure downtown. (Like the Spokane River Run, which I will be doing!)
- Donate to Planned Parenthood’s breast health fund.
- Complain about it on your preferred social media platform, preferably on Susan G. Komen’s wall.
About the Author
Amen, sister!
ditto what cindy said!
I can see both sides to some degree. It’s really tough to separate what “other” things an organization does from the thing you don’t like.
If an animal rights organization clubbed baby seals 20% of their day but also spayed and neutered puppies for free…I’d have a tough time giving them money too.
The other angle is that there are other organizations that do free breast screening, so it’s not like PP is the only game in town for donating money and making a difference. The important thing there is that they won’t lose donations to SGK because they are giving to those other organizations, they WILL lose money if they are associated with planed parenthood.
It sucks for them, but PP wears the abortion scarlet letter (and semi-proudly) and that comes with a cost.
Thanks Aaron. Well said. Economically, this may turn out to be profitable for PP and, speaking of standing up for your values despite the cost, SGK is going to lose supporters over this. It’s an interesting debate, but I still think they made a wise choice. Bailing off the Titanic is smart if you don’t want to drown.
To be fair, Aaron, the money Komen donated didn’t go to the portion of the organization that you object to.
In your example, there’s an inherent assumption that 20% of the money would fund something you disagree with.
I don’t know how I would feel if I opposed abortion being legal. Unfortunately, most people who think abortion is a terrible thing (and I am not pro-abortion in any way) refuse to support the solutions proven over and over to reduce the rate of abortion: namely, providing cheap or free birth control to absolutely anyone who wants it.
Outlawing abortion has not been proven to reduce the rate of abortion; it only makes it more dangerous. Planned Parenthood does a handy job of trying to tackle the rate of abortion by avoiding unwanted pregnancies in the way that’s proven to work.
RE: losing money — I think that’s the sort of scenario where we’re challenged to do what’s right (support the organization doing the most good for the most people who most need it) over what’s convenient. Integrity and all that.
Amen!!!!
I will no longer donate to your cause. Taking funding for health care away from women who otherwise cannot afford it is absurd! How many more dumpster babies do we need? How many more women do we need to lose to cervical and breast cancer? This is completely disgusting! My donation dollars will now be split. 50% to St. Jude and 50% to planned parent hood. Why? Because pediatric cancer is severely under funded and I fully support the women of my community! They deserve to have the care they need. Wether that is an abortion for a child they cannot care for and will be stuck in a poorly funded system for the first 18 years OR screening for cancer and everything in between.
I will no longer run/walk/skip for your cure. I will put my money where my mouth is and do something far more helpful than buying a pink water bottle.
Actually, in many places PP is the only place to go to get healthcare/screenings. There is so much privilege in all of this. The anti-choicers behind the foundation’s capitulation do not care that hundreds of thousands of low-income women might not be able to get breast cancer screens. They care about rhetoric and ideology. I thought the Komen Foundation cared about all women a whole lot more than that. I was wrong.
As a breast cancer survivor, activist and writer, I really appreciate your post and efforts to enlighten. Keep up the great work!
Did ANYONE bother to research WHY the Susan G. Komen folks kicked the premier zygote and embryo terminators of our community to the curb? I bet SGK has an official statement. There are always at least two sides of every story.
It is very bad form to go off half cocked until both sides are heard…
As far as anyone knows, PP might be under federal investigation for fraud and one of the board members of SGK is married to a US Attorney…it happens…remember the United Way scandal
http://userwww.sfsu.edu/~nbaker/documents/united_way.pdf
Remember the ACORN scandal?
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/73219-rep-steve-king-acorn-scandal-bigger-than-watergate
Everyone wants healthier breast. EVERYONE; and every abortion is a tragedy, Every one.
Don’t irresponsibly advocate punishing a worthy organization without due cause…. SGK might be on the side of the angels.
You don’t want to unjustly lead the liberal lemmings into a twiddle-twaddle tizzy….
I did my homework when my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer last year and chose to support the Breast Cancer Research Foundation rather than Komen. They have an actual goal for ending breast cancer instead of all the pink fluff.
DBAF: Of course I did my research. PP is being investigated by the Federal Government — not because there was a really compelling reason to do so, but because pro-life lawmakers wanted to make it seem that way. They raised questions about whether Planned Parenthood is using any funds from the federal government to fund abortions, and whether they’re doing their job as a mandatory reporter. (E.g. if they provide services for young girls, there’s no way having sex with that girl would *not* be a crime because she is a child.)
In their press statements, Komen has claimed they recently instituted a policy not to give funding to any organizations under federal investigation. I’m pretty sure they created that rule so they wouldn’t have to admit they were actually making the decision to prevent losing (quite substantial) donations from pro-life groups that were talking about boycotting them due to their connection with PP.
If PP is violating federal law then they should be prosecuted. May the same fate happen to any entity who misuses tax dollars or campaign dollars (i.e. Jesse Jackson, John Edwards, ACORN, United Way etc).
SGK knew what PP was when they first organized; the SGK board made a public policy stand for the sake of not getting their good name besmirched.
Since PP is a liberal sacred cow any action for or against will be politically charged.
Duh….
Unless you offer more evidence than “I’m pretty sure they created that rule so they wouldn’t have to admit they were actually making the decision…” you have no grounds to call for a boycott of SGK….
Ya didn’t make your prima facie case Spokanite,,,
You exhaust me, DBAF. They aren’t violating federal law — some D-bag politicians wanted to make them LOOK suspect by requesting an investigation.
This shit was all over the news. A simple Google search would have answered most or all of these questions for you. My intent with this post was not to provide breaking news, but to offer my opinion on the news that’s been headlining every major newspaper for several days.
In Komen’s apology letter to the American public this morning, in which they reversed their decision to defund PP:
“Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.”
So there.