When the nation's most prominent breast-cancer organization abandons Planned Parenthood, it's a stunning development for women's health.
In a decision that is inflaming passions on both sides of the abortion debate, the world's largest breast cancer organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is cutting off its financing of breast cancer screening and education programs run by Planned Parenthood affiliates.
The move will halt financing to 19 of Planned Parenthood's 83 affiliates, which received nearly $700,000 from the Komen foundation last year and have been receiving similar grants since at least 2005.
A spokesperson for the Komen foundation claims the group recently adopted new funding standards, cutting off grants to organizations facing investigations by local, state, or federal authorities. To put it mildly, that's a terribly weak explanation -- by this standard, if one far-right official targets Planned Parenthood anywhere in the country, for any reason at all, Komen for the Cure will simply cut off all grants.
The decision shows no regard for whether allegations against Planned Parenthood have merit, and perhaps more importantly, it shows even less regard for how the move will affect women's health.
Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood, said that the decision "came so abruptly in the face of a long, good, working relationship with Komen" and that the change in financing criteria "was written specifically to address the political pressure that they've been under."
Ms. Richards said all of Planned Parenthood's affiliates provided around 770,000 women with breast examinations and paid for mammograms and ultrasounds for those who needed and could not afford further diagnostic services. She said she received the news from the Komen foundation in late December and had requested a meeting with officials there to discuss the matter but was rebuffed.
"Until really recently, the Komen foundation had been praising our breast health programs as essential," Ms. Richards said. "This really abrupt about-face was very surprising. I think that the Komen foundation has been bullied by right-wing groups."
Under the circumstances, it's hard to draw other conclusions.
Komen effectively had to decide which was more important: combating cancer or caving to the right's political crusade against Planned Parenthood. The foundation, tragically, did not choose wisely.
The result is fewer exams, fewer mammograms, more treatment delays, and an unnecessary setback for the health care needs for thousands of women.
Patrick Hurd, the CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, told the Associated Press, "It sounds almost trite ... but cancer doesn't care if you're pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative. Victims of cancer could care less about people's politics."
If only Komen for the Cure felt the same way.
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you are so right, steve. komen did not choose wisely. and until they reverse their decision, i will no longer provide them with any financial support. do all of the manufacturers that donate a portion of their sales proceeds support this decision? because i won't be buying any of their products any more.
Please (all), feel free to contact your local Komen and share with them your displeasure that they are abandoning poor and under-served women who often rely on PP for mammograms and PAPs.
http://ww5.komen.org/Affiliates.aspx
I am done with this organization. It's apparent that they only want your money. Serving people is not what they do.
Me too. I just sent them a scathing email. Myself and my extended family are long time supporters of the Susan G. Komen organization. I did not know about their decision until today. It's just terrible. It's always about money and politics. Ughhh!
Likewise, I sent an email to donorinquiry@komen.org expressing my outrage and am sending e-mails to friends who I've known to either participate in Komen events or sponsor people who do.
In addition to telling Komen why I am ending support of the organization over the Planned Parenthood matter, I added this:
I suspect Komen is being deluged with emails this morning because I received an automated "out of office" reply.
(h/t to Susan Guberman)
Komen is not getting any more of my money either. I think maybe I'll donate money to my local Planned Parenthood instead.
Don't support Komen at all, even if they reverse their decision. Do some googling; they don't do as much good as they claim. There are other places to donate, including directly to PP.
I also sent Komen an email and told them I would now give my donations to Planned Parenthood. I had heard things on facebook almost a year ago about withholding from Komen because they donated to PP. Apparently those people got their message across. Now I guess it is time for our side to show that we have financial clout also. Sad that it has come to this.
Komen just lost my support. They are simply yielding to freedom destroyers in the name of righteous indignation but really about looking down that one finger at someone else...
I'm with you on the "righteous indignation", but it's really about the M-O-N-E-Y, period! The reich have intimidated more by threats of withholding financial support and therefore these groups cave to the pressure! Not only will I contact SGK them and let them know why I won't support them anymore, but I will give that money that would have gone to SGK to PP!
Anything that supports SGK no longer gets my money. Instead, I'll be donating directly to PP. This makes me sick.
Having lost my stepmom to breast cancer, this is not a decision I am taking lightly, but until Komen reverses this decision, no further donations will come from my pocket either
The thing of it is for me, they hired a person known for her ideological fervour, they allowed her to steer the organization to this disastrous decision, then they made up some ridiculous story about why they were bending to ideology. So, I have to ask; what other decisions are being made by the SGK foundation that are ideologically based that haven't made the news? I'm done with them for good.
If they reverse the decision, please, research Komen before to you decide to resume donations.
This is horrid. The only reason that there's any sort of "investigation" is this RW anti-choice push. So women can die of breast cancer, but gosh dangit....have them babies!
Really? A organization whose only purpose is to fight breast cancer is taking a side in the pro-choice debate, and is taking the side of the small group of cells with different DNA against the side of the woman?
I'm not pretending that's a perfect analogy, but there is some cognitive dissonance there.
So how do they choose which clusters of foreign cells are evil, and must be destroyed for the good of all humanity and which are sacred and must be protected for the good of all humanity? Viability? Genome Mapping? What if the cancer cells have superior DNA like in the case of Henrietta Lacks?
Are we choosing which clusters get to live because of what they could be? Are we now making life and death choices based not on the present but the future? How far into the future do we extrapolate to?
Did anyone bring in an expert on medical ethics? Or did they just say, "It's scaring the conservatives, we have to disavow any connection to Planned Parenthood."
Just weird. It's just really weird.
I just sent this email to: donorinquiry@komen.org .. and I urge everyone to do the same: By caving in to the demands of the extremists in the Republican Party to cease your donations to Planned Parenthood...denying lifesaving cancer screening to hundreds of thousands of women who have nowhere else to get it, you have betrayed your principles. As a result of your betrayal WOMEN WILL DIE. NEVER AGAIN will I participate in any of your walks or runs, or sponsor a participant, or donate in any way to your organization. Instead, my donations will go to Planned Parenthood. I will share my decision on Facebook, Twitter, and by email and telephone to friends and family. SHAME! SHAME! SHAME!
We can give to PP directly and help to make up the lost funding:
https://secure.ppaction.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=pp_ppol_Nondirected_OneTimeGift
For all the brave women SGK has represented in the past, they themselves are cowards.
As a breast cancer survivor, this news is so disappointing. The war against breast cancer (and the availability for screening / early detection for many women) has suffered a serious blow. Sad news... I hope they reverse this decision, and quickly. I believe they will see a drastic decline in donations. Mine will go directly to the facility where I received treatment.
Furthermore, that this decision was made renders the organization not credible with respect to all of its funding decisions. If the management of Komen is willing to cave in to right wing blackmail (and I note that a Bush operative is now its chief executive officer), what other bad decisions will it make with respect to whose "research" it supports? Will funds be routed to companies that have the right "connections," regardless of merit? All decisions are now suspect.
It may be on the horizon, and I shutter at the thought of it, but our dear brethren in farrightwingland may be planning an action against Planned Parenthood reminiscent of a night deemed kristallnacht!
Kormen is aiding a abetting this menace to America - those who would deny open access to health care for women as rendered in the privacy surrounding doctor/patient relationships. Firms that abandon other firms in the face of show trials and trumped up controversies are taking the first step toward a slippery slope!
Kormen is encouraging the authoritarians among us who are wont to abide only unto themselves, while they work to condemn all others! -Kevo
I read all the comments, there are many reasons to give to a charity, there are many reasons not to. The fact that PP is being investigated for violations of state and federal law, failing to report sexual abuse and sex trafficking, and for not giving women any actual choices. That has not been brought up, I am sorry no matter how much good an organization does for some, if it looks the other way when a kid is being molested and provides an abortion. I say shut them down. I ask you all to look deeper into this, the allegations are not made up, and this decision may have more to do with an organization that looks the other way when women and children are victimized than anything to do with a woman's right to chose. I can not and will not support any organization that will not act to stop the abuse of innocents.
the allegations are not made up,
so guess you have links etc... proving this?
just asking
Any truth to the claims here about the new SGK VP for Public Policy being rabid anti-choice former GA governor wannabe Karen Handel? http://www.americablog.com/2012/01/komen-pro-life-vp-promised-to-defund.html
A very good link. I have my issues with John Aravosis at times (I stopped reading AmericaBlog when he became a little too Jane "FireBagger" Hamsher-ish), but this was exceptional. Thank you for posting it.
Ms. Joanne, I love "FireBagger" and have alfready quoted it and will use it for the Hamster, and others like GG.
But may I please request people <b>don't</b> send <i>form letters</i> which merely get 'checked off' instead of being read. Instead, write your own note and make it personal, And consider writing to their major funders instead of them. (I wrote a long letter to the MLBPA -- I won't quote it here, I did, in full, in the current thread at COGITAMUS. In it, I mentioned being 'a baseball fan old enough to have seen games at Ebbets Field.' Personal notes like that catch the eye and increase the odds of a letter beimg read, and not merely counted.)
And make the issue a point of fairness, not about abortion. (I hope saying 'be polite and respectful, and drop terms like 'reichwing' and the like is an unnecessary reminder. Nasty name-calling will make you feel good -- and destroy any chance of being effective.) Point out that if the organization had the same rule, you could 'punish' Komen, were you a state legislator, by opening an investigation -- totally without evidence or reason -- into Komen.
(Warning, you will see the following point frequently in my comments here in the future.) This is another 'test' of the blogosphere. Somehow, over the past few years, particularly starting in 2009, too much of it has turned into 'sports talk radio' a chance to vent and to swap ideas with friends in public, but one which has only a minimal impact by hinting to the 'real professionals' the 'current of opinion,' nothing more.
We didn't used to be like that -- especially in the CARPETBAGGER days, and maybe we can change back if we keep the following in mind:
POLITICS IS NOT A SPECTATOR SPORT!
Hey, Jim! Long time!
I didn't make up the FireBagger tag, I think I read it on Twitter. So, feel free to use it as I have. :-)
I wrote a custom email and phoned the local chapter, as well. It *IS** about fairness and their inability to support those amongst us who use PP because they don't have alternatives, which means the poor and under-served, well, as far as I am concerned, Komen can kiss my big fat a$$.
I said nothing of abortion, only that I will not support them while their business model becomes about politics instead of women's health and it appeared to me that their business model was just that, business, instead of being about women's health and cancer prevention.
I also told them I would no longer sponsor runners, get or wear their iconic ribbons, nor support their organization in any way, shape or form, and I would advise my friends, family and community of my opinions.
That's dissembling. Abortion is the point.
While abortion may be the point in their decision, the ramifications are not about abortion, they are about healthcare for people who have few other options, usually women without insurance.
We can bitch all day long about abortion, but what they are doing hurts women. And that is what is going to get them to reverse their decision. Abortion needs to be removed from the debate about women's health FOR THIS ORGANIZATION (Komen).
No. We can't simply erase it and call women's health a non-partisan issue. If Komen is against abortion, they are against women's health, period. That point needs to be made. Ultimately, it's not, "Please overlook the abortions and continue to fund mammograms," it's, "If you support women's health you will not deny mammogram funding to a pro-choice organization b/c they are pro-choice."
Mech Trek:
The point is to be effective, to choose between several approaches -- all equally honest -- the one that will get the result you want. (That seems basic and 'elemental' but I seem to need to keep saying it.)
Abortion is a 'hot-button issue' and one which, I'm sorry, reasonable people can disagree on -- I say that despite my own position which has never wavered from wanting the Democratic Party to be stronger in defending abortion as a right rather than something we 'bestow' only on 'poor innocent girls who got pregnant through no fault of their own, through accident, ignorance, rape or incest' which is the tenor of most Party defenses. I WANT to see again women being willing to state that they had chosen abortion -- as a choice, not from 'necessity' -- and defending that choice against the 'pregnancy forcers.'
But, for a group like, say the MLBPA or another sports group, the last thing they want is to get involved in the abortion controversy per se, and would duck the problem -- the same way MLB ducked the immigration issue in Arizona, despite a number of Hispanic players wanting them to act by cancelling the All-Star Game or moving it.
If, on the other hand, we go for 'fairness' and the whole due process question, they might feel free to take action.
Ms. Joanne: I've been here all along, at least reading Steve. I don't think I've missed a dozen days since I first discovered THE CARPETBAGGER REPORT. But while the WM deserves eternal praise for giving Steve the opportunity it did, I think we all felt they should have spent some money on a graphics designer. The comments section there was uncomfortable, both the design and, frequently, the tone, so I only commented occasionally, about once every couple of months, and admittedly usually didn't even read the comments.
Boy, it's good to be back here, and I hope to see more of the old names -- and at least one new one that I know from my main blog for comments, low-tech cyclist from COGITAMUS. Btw, is Zeit still around? Isn't it about time for the usual argument as to who deserves the top rank in Republican March(ing backward) Madness?
Jim, I will probably be around less. I am home now which means on a computer. I am almost always on a mobile device, though, and the comments here do not work at all on any mobile device. I have asked the powers that be...we shall see.
I saw Zeit post a couple of times here (and at WM), but I haven't seen an abundance of his posts [his name here is cute; Whatdoyoumeanzeitgiestistaken]) but not enough. That man has some seriously good insight. I always love reading what he has to say.
MechTrek, This whole disaster of Komen's making does not have to be about abortion, sorry. It is about women's health. It is about mammograms and the funding of. It is about PAP smears and the funding of. Yes, their reasoning was obviously about abortion, but PP is not all about abortion. And, from my perspective, I am not going to make it about abortion. Let abortion be funded in other ways as it is now. It is a small part of what PP does. But this, this is huge and impacts people who cannot do for themselves (you don't go to the ER for a mammogram or PAP).
You can approach it your way while I will approach it mine. I don't think we have to have an either OR approach.
they didn't just cave people. they hired not long ago, i'm not sure of the exact timing, a sarah palin supporting anti-abortionist rwnj vp high ranking officer. the investigation is a smoke screen. the real answer is in the hiring of the aforementioned woman.
What a sad, sad day it is. Perhaps we women need to reevaluate our contributions to the Koman foundation. As a woman, I am very disgusted with this decision.
How about the fact that Planned Parenthood has just become an abortion mill ! If Planned Parenthood were really doing it's job....shouldn't the number of abortions be going DOWN rather than UP ! Everytime anybody suggest cutting their funding in anyway...the Far Left screams...Oh you want to go back to abortions in back alleys !!! NO I want something that works ! Lot's of new evidence how the effects of abortions impact women....seem to be ignored !
And forcing women to give birth when they do not want to impacts women how? Oh, right...that doesn't matter to people like you.
A fraction of what PP does is abortions. The vast majority is womens health.
And what stops people from getting pregnant? Well, it's proven that abstinence only education, lies about condoms and other lies and nonsense that wingnuts insist upon spreading to the less educated does not help.
And the wingnuttiest want to do away with contraception (yes, Santorum, and your loony followers, I am looking at you).
With the time it took you to write this comment, you actually could have researched the abortion rate in the U.S. (going down) and the services PP provides (mainly family planning, which reduces unintended pregnancy, and thus reduces abortion) Or you could have researched how the "new evidence" about how abortions affect women is that abortion is safer than pregnancy, and abortion does not cause depression - unintended pregnancy does. And you could notice that the places in the world best at providing sex ed and family planning have the lowest abortion rates.
But I suppose posting an uninformed comment is easier.
By your logic any number of anti-abortion organizations can be blamed for rises in abortions... should we say because abortions went up since the NRLC was formed they are to blame for the rise in abortions and should be defunded. Perhaps the rise in abortions in Planned Parenthood is because they are often the only place in entire states still offering them after other doctors have been threatened and even killed. No one... even pro-choice people are pro abortion but if you deny that they took place before Roe vs Wade and will take place even if it again made illegal you are naive and obviously ignorant of the dangers these illegal abortions. None of this has anything to do with the fact well over 90% of what they do has nothing to do with abortions. So are you saying that mammograms for poor women is pro-abortion? I would like to see some semblance of logic and a hint of facts when the Far Right says cutting funding for mammograms is pro life. I would hope you would be willing to defend the life of a woman with cancer as well as a fetus. I guess once someone is actually born they don't count...
That statement has the slight problem of not being an actual fact. Just a note, but the word 'fact' has a specific meaning, and it's not 'random thing I made up to argue against'.
Did you read the story today about a recall of birth control pills found not to control birth? Some of us live in the real world and believe women are the best arbiters of their personal reproductive and medical decisions. I'm sorry you don't.
We women wouldn't even need abortions if the men would control their urges and keep their pants zipped. And if they can't keep 'em zipped then they need to carry a load of condoms with them and use them. Men have this sex entitlement mentality (Not all) and it drives me nuts. If men don't want their sperm killed, then keep it safe where God tucked it in the first place!
As to Komen - The original vision got lost as the money poured in. This is just another step away from that vision. Sad.
Yes, jrt1098: A whole lot of women definitely woke up every morning cheerfully thinking "Oh yeah....they just opened a Planned Parenthood in my neighborhood, maybe I will just get myself an abortion today. I heard they serve croissant and cappuccino there, too."
Geeee...have you even try to go in to a Planned Parenthood office and see for yourself what kind of service they provided to women? And do you even know that for the women who do seek abortion service from them, they will always provide counseling before and after the procedure, something they will never get otherwise?
Or is your knowledge about Planned Parenthood consist only information you got from Jon Kyl who testify in the SENATE FLOOR and then told you that his statement was “Not intended to be a factual statement,”?
Provide quantitative criteria designating an "abortion mill" and data showing PP qualifies.
http://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=navclient&gfns=1&q=number+of+abortions+us+decades
Such as.
Such as.
Put up or shut up.
Less than 3% of PP services are abortion related; nationally abortions are going down.
1) You do not control women so you do not get to dictate to women whether or not they get to have an abortion. It's perfectly fine for you to discuss that some women will have adverse psychological impact if they get an abortion, but it is not OK for you to outlaw a practice or defund a practice simply because you feel like you're protecting women. Women are not semi-conscious beings who need other people to make decisions for them. Offer education and/or advice if the woman seeks you; otherwise shut up. Additionally you are operating under the assumption that the "new evidence" is credible (the majority of which has been shown not to be) and that your reactionary anti-abortion efforts haven't created a dynamic in which women feel guilty for something that, had you kept your mouth shut, women would not have felt guilty for. In which case you are the one causing harm.
2) Every nation that doesn't provide abortion services or that outright makes abortion illegal has the problem of backroom abortion. This isn't a debatable reality- it does and will happen. It already happens in the United States, but it's not as frequent because we have legal abortions (where it does happen are in states where women cannot access abortions, in particular late term abortions). The reason why people do not like abortion being outlawed is because we do not want to have millions of women dying every year. Backroom abortions increase the likelihood of death. Now we may not go back to the 3+ million deaths per year that we had prior to abortion being legalized, but it is likely that hundreds of thousands of women will die or suffer gross complications if they cannot have proper access to clinics which provide SAFE abortions.
3) Every nation in which a woman cannot access abortion services is by and large either a 2nd world or a 3rd world country. There is a correlation between the economic advantages of women and the economic prosperity of a nation overall. Taking away the right of choice and limiting or eliminating contraception wreaks economic havoc on nations and reduces your long term economic viability. Reducing access or outlawing access to abortion services and contraceptives will only hurt women in the long run and will hurt us nationally.
4) Study after study has proven that the best way to lower the abortion rate is through sex education and contraceptive access. Planned Parenthood provides both of these services so cutting off funding to them does not make sense. If your goal is to lower the abortion rate then you would want increased access to PP centers. Additionally many PP centers provide housing assistance for women who are pregnant, but want to keep the baby. Or they provide information on where women can go to get such help. By closing down PP centers you are denying women information that they might need in order to be able to make the choice of keeping the child. Information, education, and access are the best alternatives if you want to lower the abortion rate.
Please stop with this bull@!$%#. Women have urges too. Unintended pregnancies happen in loving relationships. Wanted pregnancies sometimes do not work out. Until the brave new world of growing fetuses in jars arrives, we will need abortion. Rape culture and women's control of their own bodies are related, yes, but not in the simplistic and inaccurate way you claim.
Thank you for this, MechTrek. There has always been a tension in the women's movement between the ideas that 'sex is something men want, and it should be condemned' and 'sex is something that both women and men want and enjoy and it should be celebrated.' (I remember one radical group arguing that 'all heterosexual sex is, per se, rape.)
One way in which Democrats 'lost control of the dialogue' -- you'll hear that line too often from me if I become more active here -- is that acceptance of and celebration of women's sexuality is something we no longer do, and should begin doing it again. It will -- another phrase you'll get sick of -- win us more votes than it will cost, because the people it offends weren't going to vote for us anyway.
Methinks that someone's SnarkOMeter is broken...at least that's how I read Jontara's comment.
Sadly, MsJoanne, there are several commenters here who make a point of saying such things on every thread concerning women's sexuality. If it was snark, Jontara would do well to make it a little more obvious, b/c the comment reads pretty word-for-word like the serious ones.
It makes no sense! The funding was specifically for breast examinations, not any of the other services offered by PP. For SGC to allow itself to be influenced by extreme right wing thinking is inexcusable. Shame Shame Shame!
Follow the money . I bet there is a Koch quid pro quo somewhere in this mix. What do these alleged christian people have against helping other people? The only "investigations" are those from right wing zealots .
I would love to know the executive who made this decision , who they are affiliated with and how much they get paid I believe it will be very revealing .
The money, yes, and the new VP of PR for the group is a pro-lifer from Georgia, who has likely pressed the organization to follow her right-wing agenda.
As someone else already posted here:
http://www.americablog.com/2012/01/komen-pro-life-vp-promised-to-defund.html
There is a political agenda here. And it is blatant.
As I suspected. Ideology trumps compassion every time.
Here is the list of corporate sponsors of Susan G. Komen for the Cure:
http://ww5.komen.org/CorporatePartners.aspx
Note that Georgia Pacific (owned by Koch brothers, who OWN the Tea Party) is on the list. Karen Handel is a right-wing anti-choice Tea Party puppet. Komen doesn't need our donations to fatten their 6 figure salaries.
I would be surprised if this were not the case. I can't see Komen doing this unless some rich wingnut said "don't worry about losing donations -- we'll make up the difference."
It would be a great investment for Rich White Males. As the bond between two of the largest groups serving the needs of women is broken and the activist women who passionately support them turn on each other in response to the ploy devised by conservatives, the Keep The Womenfolk In Their Place patriarchy sits back and laughs out loud at what a fine job it has done. divide and conquer FTW.
I'm confident that Komen will reverse this decision once they see their major donors drop like flies. It's just sad to know that this decision was made in the first place.
Thankfully, there are many other breast cancer foundations to whom we can donate our money. Susan G. Komen can just fall away into the ignorance abyss.
SGK is a sham. They spend millions suing other cancer charities, and now this. They haven't been about the health of anyone for a long time.
Deserves ALL THE UPVOTES.
Use THIS pink ribbon to describe how we all feel about Komen's decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood:
http://twitpic.com/8e8p1l
h/t to the brilliant AzureGhost!
Don't let the Flat-Earthers return women's health and rights back to whatever century they choose. Stop the GOP/TeaParty's War on Women and vote them OUT in 2012!
I think Komen has become a business in itself. One gigantic tax deductible business. Everything I see in the stores has a pink ribbon on it.
Here are 3 petitions you can sign against Komen's decision, which was a result of 'public pressure.' Let's give them some public pressure to do what's right!
http://signon.org/sign/susan-g-komen-for-the?source=s.tw&r_by=510875
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/tell-the-komen-foundation-not-to-abandon-women-in-need/
http://act.credoaction.com/campaign/komen_2/?rc=LA_komen_01312012_a1
Komen, isn't that also the group that denies a connection certain chemicals leaching from plastic and cancer? Are they not also recieving funds from the plastics companies?
I don't remember all the details but I do know the story and their response made them look far more concerned with money than cancer or humanity.
There are other charities which support breast health initiatives - Though Komen may be one of the better known right now, that can change when supporters decide it to. I suggest Breast Cancer Charities as an alternative. http://www.thebreastcancercharities.org/what-we-do/
As a Breast Cancer survivor, I find this decision unconscionable, inexcusable, and so very disappointing. I would imagine they will reconsider when donations to the foundation drop and they begin to feel the financial ramifications of their decision. My donations will now go directly to the facility where I received my treatment. Shame on you Susan G. Komen Foundation... you have abandoned the very women who need you most.