BREAKING: Komen reverses decision, or did they? YOU decide....
In a new public statement, Nancy G. Brinker, CEO of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, and the Foundation's Board of Directors waffled on their reportedly well-discussed, well-weighed, and well-thought-out original decision to stop giving nearly $700,000 a year to Planned Parenthood. The Foundation's original decision to stop funds to Planned Parenthood was due to a Federal investigation currently underway to determine whether Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country, misused millions of dollars of government grant funds it has received over many years. It seemed logical. Would you want your hard-earned dollars that you chose to donate to a cause you believed in then given to another organization under investigation for misuse of funds? Of course not.
But Planned Parenthood's resulting rage and public tantrum at the loss of Komen Foundation funds, and its knee-jerk characterization of Komen's decision as politically motivated, seems itself to be politically motivated. Looks like it worked. The Planned Parenthood outcry seems indeed to have shocked the Komen Foundation into submission. Ironically, it's difficult to imagine a more politically motivated submission.
But Austin Ruse, founder of C-Fam, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, cautions that it's still too early to determine whether the Komen Foundation will actually re-evaluate their decision to give funds to Planned Parenthood or whether they are just buying "breathing room."
Either way, the controversy uncovers an even bigger issue; namely, the absurd alliance of a breast cancer prevention organization with the largest abortion provider in the country. After all, Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms or other pre-breast cancer testing, and there is a well-recognized, proven, scientific link between abortion (which Planned Parenthood provides) and breast cancer. Planned Parenthood is in the business of providing abortions. Why would Komen give Planned Parenthood any funding in the first place?
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Read for yourself the Komen Foundation's latest statement (Feb 3, 2012):
Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker
DALLAS - February 3, 2012 - 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. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. 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.
Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.
Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. 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.
It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.
Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.
We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.
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