Assault on Women’s Health by Conservative Groups Results in Breast Cancer Charity to Stop Funding Breast Exams - Komen Foundation Stains Its Pink Ribbons

Dooming Women to Severe Illness or Death Is Just Part of Their Strategy

The Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation is one of the largest and strongest organizations funding preventive services and research into breast cancer. The Komen group has announced that they will no longer fund breast cancer prevention activities provided bv Planned Parenthood. A Washington Post Forum under the direction of Ezra Klein explains things.  At first, the Komen group's explanation sounds somewhat justified

Komen said it could not continue to fund Planned Parenthood because it has adopted new guidelines that bar it from funding organizations under congressional investigation. The House oversight and investigations subcommittee announced in the fall an investigation into Planned Parenthood’s funding.

So on its surface this does not seem totally unreasonable until one delves into what is really going on here.  First of all, simply being under investigation by Congress, without any formal charges being filed and without any finding by anyone that an individual or organization has done something wrong is directly contradictory to the American ideal of innocent until proven guilty.  So why would a foundation doing such important work, work that directly affects the health of women do such a thing as using that flimsy excuse?

The group has been under pressure from anti-abortion rights groups not to fund Planned Parenthood. It also hired a vice president last year who had previously advocated for the group’s defunding in her run for Georgia governor.

Ah yes, using money totally and completely segregated from grant support from the Komen Group or from government,  Planned Parenthood provides women access to abortion.  And women have a legal right, at least for now, to have access to abortion services.

So what will the impact of the Komen Group’s defunding mean?  In the absence of replacement funding it will mean hundreds of thousands of women over the next few years will not have access to clinical breast examinations.

Over the past five years, Planned Parenthood health centers with Komen program funding have provided nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams out of the more than four million clinical breast exams performed nationwide at Planned Parenthood health centers, 

But fortunately at least for now Planned Parenthood may have replacement funding.  And if not, well, apparently the Komen Foundation doesn’t really care if women contract breast cancer, or if the cancer is not detected early enough to prevent the deaths of women.  After all, they are not called the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation for nothing.  And the rest of us, well when the fundraisers from the Komen Foundation come ringing we can say no thanks, we gave at the office to groups that really care about women’s health, and put that concern above politics.