Susan G Komen Foundation severs ties to Planned Parenthood

[baachus]

The Susan G Komen Foundation has severed ties with Planned Parenthood citing a new policy it instituted. The policy states that it will not donate funds to an organization under government investigation. (Article here (http://www.latimes.com/health/la-he-planned-parenthood-komen-20120201,0,4104682.story)) Planned Parenthood asserts that the SGK is bowing to anti-abortion group pressure. A major part of what Planned Parenthood offers is cancer screening, mammograms, and health services to the neediest of women. Abortions and birth control are a small part of what they provide and not funded by government money.

There has been a major backlash on social networks once the decision was made public. Another factor has been the presence of Karen Hendal as the new Senior Vice President for Public Policy for the SGK. She made an unsuccessful bid for the governorship of Georgia in 2010.(Article here (http://jezebel.com/5881057/))


Karen Handel, who was endorsed by Sarah Palin during her unsuccessful bid for governor of Georgia in 2010, has been the Foundation's Senior Vice President for Public Policy since April 2011. During her gubernatorial candidacy, she ran on an anti-choice platform, vowing that if elected, she'd defund Planned Parenthood. Handel wrote on her campaign blog,

I will be a pro-life governor who will work tirelessly to promote a culture of life in Georgia…. I believe that each and every unborn child has inherent dignity, that every abortion is a tragedy, and that government has a role, along with the faith community, in encouraging women to choose life in even the most difficult of circumstances…. since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.

She even promised to eliminate funding for breast and cervical cancer screenings provided by the organization.

This decision has also resulted in the resignations of several key members of SGK Foundation. (Article here (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/02/susan-g-komen_n_1250651.html)) New York mayor Mike Bloomberg has pledged $250 thousand to help offset the loss of funding. Since this story broke, Planned Parenthood has received $400 thousand in donations since the split.


Planned Parenthood announced Wednesday that it had received $400,000 in donations in the 24 hours following Komen's announcement. In addition, New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg said on Thursday that he would give $250,000 to Planned Parenthood to help make up for the loss.

“Politics have no place in health care,” he said in a statement. “Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way."

It seems to me that Planned Parenthood is misnamed because they do so much more. They are about helping women who need it the most. Cancer doesn't care if you are republica/democrat/conservative/liberal/labour. It doesn't care if you are rich or poor, what your sexual orientation is. Planned Parenthood gives a lifeline to those who can't afford medical insurance or hospitals. Early detection is vital for cancer and to deny these women that chance is nothing more than an attack.

Shameful.

[keefer10.7]

Is it? Are they not funds that are freely donated? I would expect you to up your tythe to planned parenthood now.

[darkeyes]

Just a little something I read about this in the guardian earlier...http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/feb/02/planned-parenthood-susan-g-komen-foundation-betrayal

[tenni]

The issue of funding Planned Parenthood raised its ugly head in Canada in 2011. The federal government was very slow on giving funding for international activity in third world countries including Afghanistan. The right winged group opposed to funding included several federal MP's. Usually, if the PM doesn't approve of an idea no federal government MP would raise the issue. Similarly even abortion is being brought back by some Parliamentary MP's, the death penality by a Canadian Senator. Ugliness and loss of human rights won decades ago seem under attack in North America at least.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/09/22/pol-planned-parenthood-funding.html

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/30/pol-planned-parenthood-sask-mp.html

[æonpax]

The contemptible ultra religious rightwing conservatives in the US, are making their assault against women. Their latest target, Planned Parenthood, using a a foundation that does nothing but Breast Cancer exams.

Considering that abortion only represents 3% of the services PP provides and breast cancer is a disease that knows no political boundaries, these low-life slugs from the right have gone way too far.


http://i.imgur.com/QjdX5.jpg

[LastGent]

The sad thing is, aeonpax, if the 3% abortion service was split off into a separate organization, it would be bombed by a lunatic the next day.
What IS it with men and female sex organs?
It must be me; some genetic quirk that inhibits my ability to sexually oppress women.

[æonpax]

The sad thing is, aeonpax, if the 3% abortion service was split off into a separate organization, it would be bombed by a lunatic the next day.
What IS it with men and female sex organs?
It must be me; some genetic quirk that inhibits my ability to sexually oppress women.

There are many good faith religious people whom have a moral objection to abortion, that I can understand. What I object to here is those whom consider themselves to be morally superior and so wanton in their methods that they will put all women who avail themselves to PP health services, to be punished. The methods these people use need to be treated with repugnance.

[Light_and_Dark]

You know if PP separated its abortion sections from itself creating a subsidiary corporations(quite common in big business which pp IS a business) then the parts that do the most good will not be harmed by though only 3% of its function are its primary marketing lines...You talk to almost any american and they will state pp is for abortion...NO it would not be out of ignorance it would merely be because pp markets and advertises its abortion side so much that the good things(ie checking for breast cancer...aids and other things) that planned parenthood do) are not considered of note by the public.

Aeon your statement could use a little toning down...other then that it is not to far from the truth...though i disagree with abortion itself and am pro life there are situations which i agree with abortion being an option.

[baachus]

There are those who oppose abortion but support what PP strives to do with health checks, contraceptives and sex education. For example: link (http://open.salon.com/blog/lbjeffries/2012/02/01/im_pro-life_so_why_do_i_support_planned_parenthood)


Can we have the term “Pro-Life” back, if everyone else is just going to misuse it?

I’m pro-life because I value all human life. I value the lives of every person living in my country. I value the lives of children living in poverty, and victims of AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria in the third world. I value the lives of criminals on death row, homeless living in the streets, and soldiers serving our country abroad.

I also value the nascent human life of the unborn.

So why aren’t I trying to defund Planned Parenthood, calling abortion doctors “murderers,” and petitioning the federal government to overturn Roe vs. Wade?

...

I want the abortion rate in this country – and every country – to plummet. That’s a given.

But it’s not going to happen by overturning Roe vs. Wade, or cutting funding for healthcare to low-income women and families. It’s going to happen by expanding healthcare access, contraceptive use, and sex education.

Then later;


An ideological war on abortion that ignores the data and sets its sights on low-income women who lack proper education and resources must stop. The Pro-Life movement must make reducing the rate of abortion the goal, and seek rational methods and solutions that will serve this purpose.

If the only thing that matters is righteous ideology without concern for results, then we want the term “pro-life” back. You’re using it wrong.

People can oppose abortion without resorting to murdering doctors or assaulting them. Working to increase sex education, providing contraceptives and health care, is a good step. For some of these 'pro life' organizations to say they value all life while calling for the assassination of abortion providers is beyond hypocritical. Posting a list of abortion doctors and their home addresses on the internet is just doing that.

[keefer10.7]

The sad thing is, aeonpax, if the 3% abortion service was split off into a separate organization, it would be bombed by a lunatic the next day.
What IS it with men and female sex organs?
It must be me; some genetic quirk that inhibits my ability to sexually oppress women.

It is you, Last. This decision is about a privately funded operation. Think, if you can, what this is about. They made a decision, and the funds of some 780.000 dollars will now be diverted back to the original intentions; research to end a cancer that killed my mother. Side note, PP never did one single mamogram. I will expect your private donations, via a check, to the cause of breast cancer research, just post date it to eternity; because not a single one of you will belly up. You will bitch though.

[darkeyes]

It is you, Last. This decision is about a privately funded operation. Think, if you can, what this is about. They made a decision, and the funds of some 780.000 dollars will now be diverted back to the original intentions; research to end a cancer that killed my mother. Side note, PP never did one single mamogram. I will expect your private donations, via a check, to the cause of breast cancer research, just post date it to eternity; because not a single one of you will belly up. You will bitch though.

Breast cancer is something I know just a lil teensy weensy little bit 'bout, Keefer... but we have a health service which does what we need no matter whether we can afford it or not.. from just visitin' the quack right down to surgical treatment, chemo and after care... including mammograms and regular consultancies 2 make sure we stay clear as best we can..

..the pity is in ur country peeps like Planned Parenthood are needed at all, not that they exist..

... and the pity is also, that cancer research programmes, like all medical research, need quite so much from private donation simply to survive far less thrive.. sometimes people have a right to bitch... even u as we have oft observed...

[æonpax]

Aeon your statement could use a little toning down...other then that it is not to far from the truth...though i disagree with abortion itself and am pro life there are situations which i agree with abortion being an option.

I stand corrected.

[Light_and_Dark]

Hopefully you were not being sarcastic...Merely arguing against an extreme you lose your own argument by becoming extreme and boisterous as you did in you first(not second in that one you had already done what i suggested) post. For once we are not to far off on agreement...Now merely to wait for the moon to fall from the sky:tongue:

[*pan*]

i guess this is what happens when you mix religion and politics. laws and bills need to be made using common sense, and what is best for the people, not what you believe is right or wrong. for your feelings of right and wrong are not always right. too many take their religion into politics with them and if overzealous in their religion you get laws and bills that seem crazy, as we see happening today. these same people put on a smileing face and portray them selves s good people working for the people when in fact they are working for their own agendas and what they believe is the right way and dam the needy. or different. funny thing i have found out is none of the christians i talked to can show me where it says anything in their bible about abortion. and the only reference i found is the eye for an eye rule set by the priests. it says if two men fighting cause a pregnant woman's death they in fact forefit their life. but if they only cause the unborn child's death they must pay to the husband of the woman to compensate him for the loss. :eek: so what does this say to someone with common sense about unborn children. i have heard reference to a child not having a soul till it takes it's first breath. one reference i read mentions the soul is in the guf waiting for the birth. and many other religious references that say until birth it is not alive and has no soul. these are not my words. but it's something to think about when one hears christians screaming about right to life. where do they get their ideas from, is it what they feel is right ? what is popular is not always right and what is right is not always popular, one of my favorite sayings and says a lot. again this is just my :2cents: to this. :bipride::tong:

[æonpax]

Hopefully you were not being sarcastic...Merely arguing against an extreme you lose your own argument by becoming extreme and boisterous as you did in you first(not second in that one you had already done what i suggested) post. For once we are not to far off on agreement...Now merely to wait for the moon to fall from the sky:tongue:

While I can defend my use of hyperbole, considering some of the bombastic things the right has been saying, your point is well taken. Expressing displeasure and disagreement using less than complimentary rhetoric is a matter of timing and effective use, both were off in my case.

Apparently this is all moot now anyways,



February 3, 2012 11:28 AM - Susan G. Komen reverses course, will keep funding Planned Parenthood - Three days after pulling its funding for cancer screenings from Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation on Friday apologized for the decision and reversed course.

"Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer," Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of the foundation, said in a statement. "Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities." - http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-57371169-503544/susan-g-komen-reverses-course-will-keep-funding-planned-parenthood/