Was Komen’s decision ‘political’? Only because Planned Parenthood can’t have it any other way (Updated)
UPDATE at 11:25 a.m.: Well, the pro-abortion rights folks’ politicization of this decision had its intended effect: The Komen organization is, at least in part, backing off its earlier decision. Congratulations, Planned Parenthood: You’ve officially turned a leader in breast cancer research into another of your subordinates.
Let this be a warning to any group thinking of teaming up with Planned Parenthood in the future: You can check in any time you like, but you can never leave.
ORIGINAL POST:
The founder and head of Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure did an interview with the Washington Post that casts the cancer-fighting organization’s highly charged decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood in a different light. For starters, Komen isn’t really stopping its funding of Planned Parenthood, just sharply curtailing it: Komen will give grants to just three Planned Parenthood clinics rather than the previous 19. CEO Nancy Brinker explained the change this way: “We have decided not to fund, wherever possible, pass-through grants. We were giving [some of] them money, they were sending women out for mammograms. What we would like to have are clinics where we can directly fund mammograms.”
Whether that dampens the excitement of anti-abortion activists who’d cheered the decision remains to be seen. Judging by the comments below the Post’s story, however, pro-abortion rights activists aren’t going to accept this rationale any more than the initial explanation that Komen wouldn’t support organizations that are under investigation. This decision has already become as hyper-politicized as anything relating to abortion.
That’s the real story here. I can think of no organization, beyond political parties themselves, that is more politicized than Planned Parenthood. That’s because no issue is more politicized than abortion, and Planned Parenthood provides one in four abortions in this country. Nor are we talking about a shy political operator: During the past two decades, it has spent almost $31 million on campaign contributions and another $6.5 million on lobbying to push its cause (and, one assumes, keep government funding flowing).
Anything done in regard to Planned Parenthood, then, is bound to be deemed “political” by someone. It’s “political” for governments, or organizations like Komen, to give money to Planned Parenthood. It therefore becomes “political” for any entity to stop giving money to Planned Parenthood.
To act as if stopping the funding is any more “political” than the original decision to begin the funding is absurd.
If you disagree, tell me this: How exactly could Komen have decided to part ways with Planned Parenthood what wouldn’t have been decried as “political”? Having giving to Planned Parenthood once, was Komen bound either to continue giving forever or to suffer a smear campaign by Planned Parenthood and its supporters once it stopped?
If so, that’s not advising Komen to “stay out of politics.” It’s mob-style blackmail. Nice little charity you’ve got there. Shame if anything happened to it.
Planned Parenthood and its supporters are right about one thing: Fighting breast cancer shouldn’t be “political.” There are plenty of truly apolitical organizations and public agencies through which Komen can effectively work. But now that Komen has decided that working with Planned Parenthood isn’t the best way to achieve its goals, the supposedly anti-”political” types seem determined to make sure Komen is considered “political” from now on. And that’s a far worse sin than anything Komen committed by stopping funding to 16 clinics.
At its heart, this episode is about the broader movement to make everything “political”: the personal, the private, everything. This movement is primarily a cause of those on the progressive left, including a great many supporters of Planned Parenthood, who see no limits on what ought to be the sphere of government and, thus, politics. So, spare me the tears about a “political” action against little ol’ Planned Parenthood.
(Note: Normally, my first post on a Friday is a Poll Position question, and I was originally going to make the Komen decision the subject of today’s post. Then I decided I wanted to make a stronger statement of my own opinion on this story. A Poll Position post about a different topic will be posted later today.)
– By Kyle Wingfield
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430 comments Add your comment
Tom
February 3rd, 2012
3:55 pm
Kathy, don’t get too mad at Linda. She’s not particularly bright, she’s simply parroting the propoganda she’s picked up elsewhere. It’s easier than actual research.
Dirty Harry
February 3rd, 2012
3:55 pm
I also don’t like the fact, that, under BO’s healthcare sham, taxpayers are forced to pay for abortions.
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
3:56 pm
Rose, you said it all, and I appreciate that you mentioned that the husband should have input, however in many cases it is a young woman who is scared and vulnerable and then they pass these laws that make them listen to people that care nothing for the young woman and care less when the child is born with no viable means for support. No one wants to take that route, but then the same simple minded people also do not want these young woman to take birth control, once the baby is born they are now non-taxpaying sponges. When will people wake up tell these people to shut the heck up. Do you think most rich white men that are anti everything would allow their daughters to have a baby when they are 14? No
Things that make you say...HMMMM!
February 3rd, 2012
3:58 pm
If, according to statistics, PP performs 27% of all abortions performed in this country each year, why isn’t anyone going after the entity that is performing those other 73%?
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
4:01 pm
Well shoot, I missed all the fun. Sanger (including must of the progressive of the era) wasn’t much better than the NAZI, were they Linda? In fact it has been cited the NAZI Party borrowed eugenicist ideas from the American Progressives to produce their “Super Race”.
Anyhow, for me, I’m Pro-life pre- Roe v Wade, so I’m not anti-abortion like Mr Santorum. A women has a choice how she chooses to use her body (that’s is a given) but women need to face the consequences of their “adult” choices after they make them (as an elderly lady once said, honey you made your choice when you dropped your panties! ). So if you can’t woman-up to the responsibilities of your actions (goes for the male factor too) then let someone else adopt the life you would otherwise destroy and I do support Gay adoptions over abortions, unlike some so-called Christian Conservatives that claim the LOVE OF GOD.
Now as for the issue using of contraception? Got a brain? Use it!
End of sermon.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
4:01 pm
And that would be your problem – how, exactly, LBB?
———
It’s a problem for every tax paying American who is forced to pay the medical and living expenses of these broodmare parasites.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
4:02 pm
More statements by Sanger, Planned Parenthood today & facts about Planned Parenthood:
http://www.dianedew.com/sanger.htm
Tom
February 3rd, 2012
4:03 pm
And since more pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions, miscarriges and stillbirths than induced abortions, why isn’t there more outrage against [insert name of your mythological deity of choice here]?
Things that make you say...HMMMM!
February 3rd, 2012
4:04 pm
@Michael E Smith, well what happens if that 12 year old girl didn’t have a choice (ie rape or incest)?
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
February 3rd, 2012
4:07 pm
“It’s a problem for every tax paying American who is forced to pay the medical and living expenses of these broodmare parasites.”
And yet every child born as a result of an unplanned pregnancy (and I’d venture to say the majority of them) are not paid for with government subsidies, but feel free to believe that if you want to, LBB
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
4:08 pm
Things that make you say…HMMMM!
Not very good at reading are you? Even less at thinking? Understand the meaning of statutory rape?
Then go back and read very carefully exactly what I said about my stance – Et al Per Roe -v Wade.
Karen Handel's Fingerprints Are All Over The Komen's Decision
February 3rd, 2012
4:09 pm
Was Komen’s decision ‘political’?
IS PIG PORK?
Kyle Wingfield
February 3rd, 2012
4:13 pm
gregory: I understand the point you are trying to make with that comment, but the hypotheticals about someone’s daughter being raped are too close to the “who should be aborted” lines I cut off earlier.
Things that make you say...HMMMM!
February 3rd, 2012
4:13 pm
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
4:01 pm
Well shoot, I missed all the fun. Sanger (including must of the progressive of the era) wasn’t much better than the NAZI, were they Linda? In fact it has been cited the NAZI Party borrowed eugenicist ideas from the American Progressives to produce their “Super Race”.
Anyhow, for me, I’m Pro-life pre- Roe v Wade, so I’m not anti-abortion like Mr Santorum. A women has a choice how she chooses to use her body (that’s is a given) but women need to face the consequences of their “adult” choices after they make them (as an elderly lady once said, honey you made your choice when you dropped your panties! ). So if you can’t woman-up to the responsibilities of your actions (goes for the male factor too) then let someone else adopt the life you would otherwise destroy and I do support Gay adoptions over abortions, unlike some so-called Christian Conservatives that claim the LOVE OF GOD.
Now as for the issue using of contraception? Got a brain? Use it!
End of sermon.
@ Michael, I am very good at reading and quite excellent at understanding. I was not being obstinate. The only blog I saw from you was the one above. Merely asking a question! You can make your point without being condescending!
Lil Barry Bailout's Broodmare Parasite Mother
February 3rd, 2012
4:15 pm
Boy get off this blog and go get the hay……..I am hungry.
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
4:17 pm
For those that don’t know what Pre- Roe-v-Wade law was: Abortions were legal in cases of Rape, Incest or Threat to the life of the mother.
Statutorily Rape, is RAPE people.
Lil Barry Bailout's Broodmare Parasite Mother
February 3rd, 2012
4:17 pm
@Lil’ Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
4:01 pm
And that would be your problem – how, exactly, LBB?
———
It’s a problem for every tax paying American who is forced to pay the medical and living expenses of these broodmare parasites.
***************************************************
Boy get off this blog and go get the hay……..I am hungry.
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
4:23 pm
Things that make you say…HMMMM!
Whatever you say but when I get this sense that someone like you is trying to set me up for a line of belittling crap I have every right to be what ever I like that includes nasty, sarcastic, belligerent and condescending as a horse’s butt.
Next time take a bit more consideration in how you approach me with a question so your intention are very clear and I’ll response in kind, fair enough?
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
4:25 pm
Annually, Planned Parenthood abortions are killing more blacks than:
HIV 6,398
respiratory disease 7,830
homicide 8,870
diabetes 12,343
accidents 13,559
kidney disease 17,323
cancer 63,441
heart disease 95,059
total 289,366 PLUS
Planned Parenthood abortions 363,705
Grand total 653,071
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/badcatholic/2011/09/how-to-kill-black-people.html
Progressive Democrats!
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
February 3rd, 2012
4:27 pm
“Annually, Planned Parenthood abortions are killing more blacks than: . . . ”
And if that’s their choice, Linda, what’s it to you?
Things that make you say...HMMMM!
February 3rd, 2012
4:38 pm
Michael, my question was simple. You were already positioned to pounce and I became the recipiant of it! No problem…you may proceed!
Peace
February 3rd, 2012
4:39 pm
The Komen Foundation can give as much financial support as it wants to PP. However, I will no longer donate money, time, or in-kind services to SGK. That’s just one fellow’s right to choose.
Churchill's MOM.....Ron Paul for President
February 3rd, 2012
4:44 pm
Good read about the revolt of the affiliates.
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP5e1fe14a905b42609fb544e8224ca7a1.html
End Breast Cancer NOW
February 3rd, 2012
4:45 pm
I don’t know if I’m way off base here, but if I donated to SGKF (which I have… thousands…) I would want that money going to RESEARCH, to find a CURE. We need a CURE. We need a CURE NOW. We have lost too many to this wicked disease. How many people do you know who have succumbed to breast cancer? I lost my grandmother to this disease. My husbands grandmother had this disease. My mother survived this disease; I will likely get this disease. My daughter will likely get this disease. We lost our children’s pediatrician to this disease while she was in the prime of life. I have know countless others. Giving to SGKF isn’t about providing money to support screening for low income women. I WANT A FREAKIN CURE. That’s not to say that planned parenthood shouldn’t be supported by whomever wants to support it… but if SGK wants to cut ties and have a stronger financial focus on it’s goal OF FINANCING RESEARCH TO FIND A CURE then why is this a bad thing? WE NEED A CURE SO WOMEN OF ALL INCOME LEVELS CAN BENEFIT. But we don’t have a cure yet… not even close. SGKF should be about the business of finding a CURE to breast cancer, and then they can spread the wealth and have ITS OWN free mammography units, etc.
Last I checked, Planned Parenthood didn’t provide screenings for melanoma, colon cancer, prostate cancer, pancreatic cancer for women… yet those cancer organizations aren’t getting blasted for not contributing to it. I think it would be interesting to see if the Ovarian Cancer Institute or the National Cervical Cancer Coalition donated to PP.
In donating to SGKF, I would hope that the money is earmarked to the first and most important goal of the organization: FINDING A CURE.
bookman parrot
February 3rd, 2012
4:48 pm
sad reversal is a “victory” for the unborn killers
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 3rd, 2012
4:50 pm
Abortion is an act of barbarism much like those undertaken by the Nazis, deciding who lives and who dies based upon their perverted and disgusting ideas.
Yeah, I know, sounds like today’s liberals, don’t it?
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
4:56 pm
Kyle,
I grew up in an affluent area in Chi Town and I can tell you that many a young girl found themselves in a pregnant state and everyone one of them went to the doctor to have an appendix removed with no scars. The young girls without the money had to travel to Wisconsin to have the procedure. Explain your logic as I do not follow it?
LG
February 3rd, 2012
4:56 pm
Mammograms start at 35 years. How many 35 year old women do you know that have abortions? I don’t see how they are related except for where they are done. Nothing political…yeah okay.
Will
February 3rd, 2012
4:58 pm
Nothing…NOTHING is more important to the left than the ability to murder their young. They percieve any reduction of funding for any reason from any source as a full on assault on their most cherished ability.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
4:59 pm
Tiberius@4:27, If this is indeed the deliberate & systematic destruction of a race, in whole or in part, genocide, as it started out to be & is continuing today, I think that every human being would be concerned if not outraged. Further, if it’s being financed by charities such as Komen & with our tax dollars, I think that both generous donors & hardworking taxpayers would be concerned if not outraged. As a previous contributor to Komen & a daughter of a breast cancer survivor, I feel personally responsible to vet organizations to which I donate for this cause & I feel that I failed.
What’s it to you?
Now with Ten Percent More Flavor
February 3rd, 2012
5:08 pm
I see integrity, like ethics and morals, continues to elude the conservative movement. Kyle, the politicizing came as a direct result of the concerted efforts of select individuals at Komen and the anti-women’s rights wing of the GOP. Further, the anti-women’s rights gang’s efforts once again failed, thanks to the efforts of the majority in this country — the pro-women’s rights people. Down with conservative GOP “Sharia Law”. But do feel free to put the women’s health, of your ideology, at risk in order to make a political statement if you feel you must. Just leave the rest of us out of it. Best of Luck with that.
Michael H. Smith
February 3rd, 2012
5:12 pm
Things that make you say…HMMMM!
Let me make this clear, either you are playing dumb now that you’ve stepped in it or you didn’t know what the law on legal abortions was pre- Roe – v – Wade (which I’ve cited since) or you didn’t pay very close attention in reading what I said originally.
If it is the later of the two, had you understood what I said you didn’t understand et al per-Roe-v- Wade.. when I hit you with the “you don’t think” line then you would never have asked the question you posed: In which you refereed to a 12 year old girl being raped? What was the law before Roe-v-Wade?: Abortions were legal in cases of rape, incest or threat to the life of the mother. This answers questions like yours before you had a need to ask.
Now I’m to think little old you were just merely asking a simple innocent question?
Yeah, I’m ready to pounce when it is obvious that you are one of two things: Attempting to be obnoxiously coy or utterly clueless. And one more thing, this truly must be your first time on this blog not to have seen a post made by me.
Joe Mama
February 3rd, 2012
5:15 pm
Kyle — “gregory: I understand the point you are trying to make with that comment, but the hypotheticals about someone’s daughter being raped are too close to the “who should be aborted” lines I cut off earlier.”
Okay, Kyle, I’ll make it more ethically black-and-white and less directed at others.
In 1999, my wife underwent an abortion. When they performed the procedure, the doctor said that she was — at most — an hour or two from death.
Who here would have denied my wife that abortion? And for what reasons?
Kyle Wingfield
February 3rd, 2012
5:26 pm
Joe Mama: As far as I can tell, not even National Right to Life favors banning abortion in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
5:30 pm
Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low
A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million. No, that’s not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation. As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over Year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.
————–
By whatever means necessary.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
5:32 pm
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/record-12-million-people-fall-out-labor-force-one-month-labor-force-participation-rate-tumbles-
Joe Mama
February 3rd, 2012
5:35 pm
Kyle — “Joe Mama: As far as I can tell, not even National Right to Life favors banning abortion in cases where the mother’s life is in danger.”
Kyle, I appreciate your reply. I know that Rick Santorum has taken some heat for votes to continue funding PP, but hasn’t he expressed a preference for banning abortions without exceptions?
Kathy
February 3rd, 2012
5:42 pm
Linda, do you think you could reference a legitimate source? Guess not.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
February 3rd, 2012
5:43 pm
In the United States, the maternal death rate was 11 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2005.
Can we talk about something that matters instead of some ridiculous liberal contrivance?
Who amongst you is too stupid to know that all of the major planned parenthood butcher shops are located in or near predominately black neighborhoods?
Who amongst you is too stupid to know that black children are aborted at a disproportionately higher rate than any other race?
Who are you kidding, liberals, you aren’t allowed to put on your stupid pointy hats, ride your little horsey through town, burn crosses in their lawns or lynch them anymore, so you make sure they have all the help they need to kill off the next generation.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
5:43 pm
Kathy@5:42, Can you?
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
5:46 pm
I love the sanctimonious right wings that are rich, they love war but very, very few go to war. Perhaps the thought is the poor born are to be like gladiators which are expendable and are there to furnish the man power to fight the wars whilst the cowards that rule with billions by ripping us off on oil and derivatives worry about the daily cost of oil and Apple. Is it only me or does anyone else see that they only care till the baby is born and after that the babies are leaches living off the hardworking billionaires. This is true and the stupid middle class who think these greedy war mongers care about them is as real as thinking Wall Street is honest. Let woman make their own rules and decisions about their life, I am a man but it’s a tough decision to make, but it’s theirs to make not mine
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
5:52 pm
gregory: Perhaps the thought is the poor born are to be like gladiators which are expendable and are there to furnish the man power to fight the wars
————————
Perhaps you haven’t heard, but the military has been all-voluntary for several years now. If you don’t want to fight the rich man’s wars, don’t enlist.
Time to get on back to MSNBC for fresh talking points, gregory. The ones you’re using are played.
Kathy
February 3rd, 2012
5:53 pm
No, Linda, I can’t find a legitimate source that claims that Margaret Sanger was “on a mission to eliminate the black race thru abortion.” Such a thing does not exist, because it’s not true.
Lil' Barry Bailout (Revised Downward)
February 3rd, 2012
5:58 pm
gregory: is it only me
———————
Yes.
John
February 3rd, 2012
6:06 pm
No more money for the Komen folks. Planned Parenthood is my designated charitable donation recipient from now on. All the right wing nuts need to get real. Planned Parenthood efforts are worthwhile and essential for women’s health.
Greg
February 3rd, 2012
6:09 pm
Karen Handel needs to be fired. She has brought shame on a good charity.
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
6:10 pm
Linda, America bought 400,000 plus slaves in the past, Central and South America bought 3 to 4 million, in the same time period. I listened to a talk by an Afro-American professor, the one that had the beer talk with the dumb cop and the President and he mentioned that most so called African Americans are really mixed with other races all over Gods green Earth. There are plenty of PP places all over to get condoms and or birth control, but the stupid girls and men do not bother to partake and I do not feel sorry for them. No one is out to get them but themselves, so really clam up.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
6:17 pm
Kathy@5:53, Can you find a legitimate source that deputes her statements in her own words? I’ve cited several sites & will be glad to keep posting more. I have noticed that you have not counterclaimed my sites with any of your own sites. Is it perhaps because “such a thing does not exist” & because what I shared is indeed true? It’s impossible to dispute historic facts with mere opinions.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
6:31 pm
gregory@6:10, I can only refer you to my 4:59 comment.
My husband’s been happily married for 36 yrs. His advice to you would be to never tell a woman to “really clam up.”
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
6:33 pm
Barry, tell me how many Koch brother kids were hurt or any other billionaires that have been given artificial legs to walk, none fool. I admire our troops due to the fact they do their mission even though all the money goes to very few and it’s not them. When I see a picture of your son on a hill in Afghanistan I will resend my comments, other than that you should give another twenty bucks to both republican war mongers, you do know we have like 190 military bases on this planet. Fool.