On January 31, 2012, the Susan G. Komen Foundation withdrew its financial support for Planned Parenthood because of an ongoing investigation by the U.S. House of Representative into possible criminal activity by Planned Parenthood. On February 3, 2012, the Susan G. Komen Foundation reinstituted its financial commitment to Planned Parenthood due to political pressure applied by those aligned with Planned Parenthood and its goals! The turnaround in commitment was dramatic, swift, and chilling with heartfelt apologies and promises offered to Planned Parenthood and the "American" people!
“We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives,” president and founder Nancy Brinker said in a statement today. “We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not!”
Planned Parenthood's president Cecile Richard then absolved the Susan G. Komen Foundation of their sin and restored the organization its status as the premier woman's care group.
“In recent weeks, the treasured relationship between the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation and Planned Parenthood has been challenged, and we are now heartened that we can continue to work in partnership toward our shared commitment to breast health for the most under-served women,” Richards said in a statement. “We are enormously grateful that the Komen Foundation has clarified its grant-making criteria, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Komen partners, leaders and volunteers.”
As many of you may or may not already know, the Komen Foundation is an organization that has dedicated itself to finding a cure for women's breast cancer. It has done this by heightening awareness about the disease through various educational approaches and by providing money for research for a cancer cure. The Komen Foundation has sponsored numerous fundraisers in order to accomplish its goal with the "Race for a Cure" the most highly visible and participated in fundraiser. This organization has so influenced our cultural landscape that it is hard to go anywhere where its influence is not seen or felt. From professional sporting events to everyday common objects colored pink, the "Race for a Cure" has inspired many and accomplished one of its desired goals - heightened awareness of breast cancer.
There is one small problem with the picture, however. The Susan G. Komen Foundation has come under criticism because it has been known for years that women who have had an abortion are much more likely to develop breast cancer later in life! Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer said she is not surprised by the findings because “Fifty-four of 67 epidemiological studies since 1957 report an abortion-breast cancer link. Therefore, people have questioned how an organization that "champions" discovering a cure for breast cancer can financially support an organization that provides abortions and therefore contributes to women getting breast caner later in life. A January 2010 study from the Seattle Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center called abortion a “known risk factor” for breast cancer, reporting a 20 to 50 percent increased chance for cancer among women who had had an abortion compared to women who carried their pregnancies to term. Of course, this "research" is disregarded out of hand by pro-abortion proponents as religiously ideologically driven or dismiss it as being "factually flawed" and "unscientific"!
The Susan G. Komen Foundation has come under criticism before and not because it is giving money to an abortion provider. The foundation has raised literally hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of its existence with the publicly perceived persona of "giving" most of the raised money to breast cancer research. But blogger NYCweboy wonders:
"And what does the Susan G Komen Foundation do, anyway? Well... mostly, they raise money, or spend money to raise yet more money, planning events and running races and all the rest. Do they actually do breast cancer research? Do they do breast cancer screenings? Do they treat patients? No, none of these, and not much else. What they do is take the money they raise - and I'm sure it's a reasonable percentage as these things go, not some scandal about them keeping more of it than they give away... but that's not my point. My point is, they take the money they raise... and they give it to the people who actually do those things. At some point, one can reasonably say... why are you giving money to a third party when you could just as easily give the money you want to see used for breast cancer screenings and treatment and research and all the rest... and give it to the people who actually do that?"