But later in the week, Komen announced a reversal in the decision. Or was it? Did they agree to continue funding Plan Parenthood? Or agree to just continue the current grants? I think the whole issue is confusing.
And worst of all, public perception of the Foundation, which has done amazing things in the fight against breast cancer, has suffered. Are they taking a principled stand? Are they now waffling on that decision?
Here’s what some of the leaders in the pro-life movement are saying:
Jill Stanek says, “This is Komen’s attempt to get the abortion mafia off their backs. Planned Parenthood and its thugs have engaged in typical shakedown: Give us money or we will destroy you. Be savvy. Nothing has changed. Komen is merely trying to to get some breathing room.
Kathryn Lopez at National Review says, “Komen has been outgunned in the PR wars in recent days, but its decision (for which it has now apologized in a desperate attempt to make the public shakedown stop — perhaps a white flag is a more appropriate emblem than a pink ribbon) never deserved the hellish backlash that Planned Parenthood and its defenders unleashed on it. A fair-minded observer could reasonably view Komen’s decision as inevitable: In a day when so many of us have such unprecedented access to a vast array of information resources, it was increasingly hard for Komen to overlook the fact that Planned Parenthood is not exactly a mecca for mammograms – Planned Parenthood doesn’t do them and they don’t even have the facilities to do them. Komen’s mission to end breast cancer was thus not being directly served by Planned Parenthood, which was at best a middleman in that fight. And even with its regrettable backpedaling, Komen’s reservations about working with the organization have struck a blow to the conventional spin that women’s health and pro-abortion views are inextricably linked.”
Americans United for Life issued the following statement:
Americans United for Life comments on the Komen Foundation coming under attack from the Nation’s Mega-Provider of Abortions
By Americans United for Life
Friday, February 3rd, 2012“Planned Parenthood does not actually provide front-line breast health services: Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms – a service that saved my life,” said AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (02-03-12) – Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said that it was “unfortunate that the Komen Foundation had come under vicious attack from Planned Parenthood as part of a media-savvy campaign.”
Dr. Yoest made the following statement:
“As a breast cancer survivor, I am troubled that the Komen Foundation has come under such heavy fire for their recent decision to tighten and focus their funding guidelines. This week we have all been witness to highly partisan attacks from pro-abortion advocates and an ugly and disgraceful shakedown that highlights Planned Parenthood’s willingness to pursue a scorched-earth strategy to force compliance with their pro-abortion agenda.
“The American public has learned this week that Planned Parenthood does not actually provide front-line breast health services: Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms – a service that saved my life. Komen’s long-standing partnership with the nation’s largest abortion provider has allowed Planned Parenthood to whitewash the central fact that their core mission involves providing abortion.
“The on-going Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood – from the same Committee investigating Solyndra – raises substantive legal questions and areas of ethical and moral concern. As AUL detailed in our ‘Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood,’ attention to the abortion giant’s business practices is long overdue.
“The Committee is concerned with wise stewardship of public taxpayer monies, just as the Komen Foundation must be concerned with their investment of donor dollars. It is unfortunate that donors to the Susan G. Komen Foundation are now confused about their association with the nation’s largest abortion provider.”
The work of the Susan G. Komen Foundation in terms of cancer awareness and in seriously should not be dismissed merely due to their association with the legacy of eugenicist Margaret Sanger. It’s a shame they came under fire as they did. Perhaps they’ve learned some PR lessons.
The ongoing fight against breast cancer and against the senseless slaughter of millions of innocent babies continues. This is just another chapter.
But it’s a chapter that tells us many things mainly that while Planned Parenthood is about many things, women’s health really isn’t one of those things.
Update: E.M. Barner at Bearing Drift writes: In the meantime, the controversy over Komen funding has drawn attention to two important points: Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms, which are the single most effective way to detect breast cancer, and the Komen Foundation, through some of its local affiliates, has historically funded breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood affiliates anyway. Of course, Planned Parenthood did perform 329,445 abortions last year, making it the largest abortion provider in the U.S.