Komen Foundation joins the war on women
Read Time:4 Minute, 8 Second
Late yesterday afternoon, millions of people, including myself, received an urgent email alert from Planned Parenthood. As I read it, my eyes narrowed, I could feel my blood pressure rise and a flush of anger colored my cheeks.
This can’t be possible, I thought. I quickly headed to Facebook, hoping to find proof that I was misinterpreting the email. No, the email was right. The Susan G. Komen Foundation had decided not to renew a grant to Planned Parenthood to fund breast exams.
Stunned, I wanted to know why, why an organization that claims to help women, that was founded by Susan Komen’s sister as a pledge to fight breast cancer, would suddenly choose to abandon tens of thousands of women. What I found is a pattern of questionable accounting, frivolous lawsuits and a board of directors who openly belong to the far right. What I found was that The Susan G. Komen Foundation is not as interested in fighting breast cancer as we all thought.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation was founded in memory of Susan Goodman Komen by her sister, Nancy Goodman Brinker in 1982; two years after Komen succumbed to breast cancer. Nancy Brinker promised Susan that she would do everything she could to fight, and hopefully end, breast cancer. Up until yesterday, The Susan G. Komen Foundation allowed its affiliates to award grants to Planned Parenthood to help uninsured and poor women receive breast cancer screenings. This partnership received criticism from pro-life groups, because out of everything Planned Parenthood provides for women-cancer screenings, PAP smears, mammograms, cervical exams and birth control-a whopping 3% of their services are abortions.
In 2011, The Susan G. Komen Foundation hired a new vice president, Karen Handel. Handel was hired on the heels of her failed Georgia gubernatorial campaign where she ran as a rabidly pro-life, anti-abortion candidate. Handel wrote on her campaign blog that she did not “support the mission of Planned Parenthood.” Karen Handel is instrumental in the abandonment of Planned Parenthood by Komen. Handel also wrote this:
“During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening, as well as a ‘Healthy Baby Initiative.’ Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate them as your next governor.”
Read that again. Handel knows that Planned Parenthood performs life saving tests and screenings, yet she vows to stop state funds from going to Planned Parenthood. And this is the women The Susan G. Komen Foundation chose last year to fill the position of vice president.
There are other facts about Komen that they don’t want people to know. For example, in 2010, they teamed up with Kentucky Fried Chicken, notably one of the most unhealthy fast food restaurant chains on Earth, to offer “Buckets for the Cure.” In 2007, Komen officially changed its name to Susan G. Komen For the Cure, and proceeded to sue dozens of other charities with “for the cure” in their name. Komen actually sent a letter to the group, Uniting Against Lung Cancer, demanding the group stop using the name “Kites For The Cure” in a fundraising drive. Komen also warned United Against Lung Cancer “against any use of pink in conjunction with cure.” More than 100 charities have received legal opposition from Komen regarding various uses of the phrase “for the cure”.
Komen spokesperson Leslie Aun claims this decision rises from newly adopted criteria barring Komen grants to organizations under investigation. Planned Parenthood, thanks to James O’Keefe employee Lila Rose, is the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), at the urging of ultra right wing Christian group Americans United for Life.
To recap: Susan G. Komen died of breast cancer and her sister founded The Susan G. Komen Foundation, now Susan G. Komen For the Cure to do “everything she could” to battle and find a cure for breast cancer. Susan G. Komen For the Cure hires a rabidly anti-abortion former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia who has made public statements on her campaign blog that she doesn’t give a rat’s ass about women’s health. Susan G. Komen For the Cure then trots out their spokesperson who admits that the organization caved to the likes of Lila Rose (who is also being investigated), Cliff Stearns and Americans United for Life by not renewing grants given to Planned Parenthood.
How can someone claim to be pro-life when they are willing to let thousands of women die to save a zygote?
Thanks to Huffington Post and Wikipedia for contributions to this article. Please visit Credo Action.com to sign a petition asking Komen to continue funding breast cancer screenings for Planned Parenthood.
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“If men had babies, abortion would be a sacrament.” Karen Handel was a crook when she was in Georgia and continues her excellence.
Regards, grace, and peace. My money goes to planned parenthood.
I will recommend my employer cease contributing to the “pink monster.”
So all you need to know is that SGKomen would rather let women DIE than let them choose what to do with their bodies. That’s all you need to know!
I have online banking.
It is so easy to make a donation to Planned Parenthood or any other worthy organizations.
We are on a fixed income and I can donate 5$ every 2 weeks. I do that with all the charities I donate to.
Abortions are legal in the US, rocketman.
And yes, thank you to all the men here. I wish more women would care what the radical, unhinged, right is doing to women’s reproductive rights.
What amazing comments (Rocketman aside). I love that men are in this too. Thanks for reading, please, if you haven’t already, visit Credo and sign the petition. I wrote this because a long time ago, PP saved a friend’s life, as they help save women every day.
Erin – I ended up donating last night, and I think this was the first petition I’ve ever posted on FB – thanks for motivating me to action. 🙂
Remember there are men can get breast cancer also and they see what the females in their lives go through when given a diagnosis or treatments. I usually do the three day walk for the cure and I am in a group that had about 5-10 guys that walked right along with us. Won’t be doing it this year, not one of us.
Jess-A lot of people are organizing walks for other groups, including Planned Parenthood. Check on those in your area.
I still have the cast on my leg, so if they are coming up soon I would be out still, but they could, thanks for that info. I’m supposed to get it off in the next two weeks, then I have some physical therapy I need to do, to get it back from three months of doing nothing with it but just dangling uselessly 🙂
A human is not chains of nucleic acids. It is not a collection of non-differentiated cells. A human is not a partially formed embryo. To be human requires a functioning nervous system. This is why we list brain death as the marker for death (in sane areas at least) instead of a pulse.
That being said, we are dealing with money taken away from potentially life saving exams that would otherwise not be performed all because of standing on one side or another of a political or religious line.
Has the so called pro-life side focused on zygotes and blastocysts for so long that it has forgotten about those that have already been born? Is the ‘life’ of such a collection of cells more important than the one with a functioning nervous system and a personality formed there within?
Quickly you begin to mock yourself with your own claims. The bile you spew forth is tainted with the fates of countless lives that you would toss aside without a seconds thought yet claim those who give a women freedom of choice over her body the monster?
“How can someone claim to be pro-life when they are willing to let thousands of women die to save a zygote?”
That zygote used to be me, or you, or anyone else able to be able to live this miracle called life.
All I know is that the zygote becomes no less important when she is assaulted and isn’t sure where to turn at at 13, or needs birth control at 20, or cancer screening at 25. For years I went to PP, never as a teen and never for an abortion. It was my way of accessing women’s health care when I had crummy insurance and moved around a lot. I continued to go when I could have afforded other clinics, and happily paid more on their sliding scale, because ever time I was in that waiting room I saw what an important service they were providing for women who wouldn’t have had anywhere to turn. They were always professional and caring. As far as I know, none of the clinics I went to offered abortion services, but the fact that some of their clinics do wouldn’t be enough for me to shun them, given the void that they fill for the health of so many women.
People like you are the best argument for birth control.
No, people like my ex are the best argument for birth control, and if Rocketman ever met him, I suspect that (s)he may be moved so far as to send a personal donation to PP for their role in limiting the vermin population by facilitating the exercise of personal responsibility. 😀
Life is a miracle? Tell that to the 30,000 children that die from hunger and dehydration everyday. Here’s to the silver spoon in your mouth and cornucopia of idiocy that spews from it. This is directed at Rocketman, by the way. May the moon swallow his load of rocket gas.
Well considering the woman running it is a right wing nutter, this is not shocking. PP already got 400k in the last 24 hrs because of this and I hope this bites SKG on their bare asses donations wise. I did some digging around and apparently SKG takes in 2.50 for every dollar it puts out. There is only one Planned Parenthood and plenty other breast cancer groups can be given monies now that SKG wants to do this kind of political crap. Jackie Speier, Barbara Boxer have already come out saying they will no longer support them because of this.
Would a “right wing nutter” be someone that has common sense? Leave my TAX DOLLARS out of this killing machine!! (Obamacare)!
Yep, that “Right Wing nutter Is you.
Damn you guys are like parrots, minus the charisma, with the whole Obamacare in everything aren’t you? There has not been one case where public monies have gone for any abortive services, since the odious Hyde amendment went in place.
Jess, Does “right wing nutter” mean someone with common sense? How about leaving my tax dollars out of this killing machine!!Obamacare)!
Ditto. Back in your hole worm.
Ugh. I have an idea–let’s play politics with women’s lives. Oh, wait–someone’s already done that?
In that case, I guess I’ll have to settle for making a donation to Planned Parenthood, which is really what I really wanted to do anyway. It’s so frustrating to see organizations (like Komen) that could do so much good, go so very wrong.
YES! YES! YES! Thank you for this Erin. Thank you so much.