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
Tiberius - Your lightning rod of hate!
February 3rd, 2012
6:34 pm
The problem with your insistence that Margaret Sanger wished to exterminate blacks is that it was only a wish, Linda.
She had no power to make such an absurd goal a reality.
Her beliefs, while distasteful, are no different than those who believe in a particular religion; neither outcome nor substantiation of belief can be proven.
gregory
February 3rd, 2012
6:48 pm
Linda, read your response, it says it all, and I have been married 37 years. It’s great that you both can put up and love each other, it’s give and take as you know. But more than once in our many years together she has told me many a time to shut up and I also her, like when buying a car. Nothing against you but if you cannot take clam up, what happens when it really gets tough?
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
7:18 pm
Tiberius@6:34, Finally a liberal acknowledges the truth about Sanger, but still fails to decipher the difference between her dreams & the reality today. She lit the match & the rest is history. I agree with you that sometimes the truth really hurts & the magnitude of it sometimes defies the imagination.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
7:33 pm
gregory@6:48, I need to read my response? Excuse me. I wrote my response just a few minutes ago. Women forget nothing.
Every marriage is unique. If you & your wife are telling each other to shut up, you have problems. What makes marriages work is when both parties DON’T “clam up” & vent their feelings to each other & come to a mutual understanding. It’s okay to disagree. It’s not okay to not communicate & express differences of opinions.
GTPHISH
February 3rd, 2012
7:43 pm
HANDEL’D
I think the reversal was the correct decision for many reasons. Hopefully the firestorm will now pass and each organization can get back to it’s purpose.
Now with Ten Percent More Flavor
February 3rd, 2012
7:45 pm
Non-Hispanic white women account for 36% of abortions, non-Hispanic black women for 30%
It looks more like Sanger must be trying to exterminate whites more than blacks.
Linda
February 3rd, 2012
8:52 pm
Michael, The comments today were unbelievable! If you are still here, you must read my 3:04 comment to really understand the debate.
Apple
February 3rd, 2012
10:25 pm
Life does not end at birth. The money given to planned parenthood by Komen was helping save lives. Real lives of real women. Either you are truly pro-life and as such care about the lives of real people as much as clusters of cells and fertilized eggs or a hypocrite. Those are your choices. Perhaps its easier for you as a man to dismiss breast cancer. You can buy some possibly cancer causing items with pink ribbons on them and then move on safe in the knowledge that you don’t have to worry about the single largest known risk factor for breast cancer which is being a woman. Women don’t have that luxury. Breast cancer is a dangerous and horrendous disease and the PP clinics are doing their part in a real and measurable way to help save lives especially for women who would otherwise not have that help.
Shame on you sir.
The Politics of Absolutely Everything – New York Times | Just Top News – Daily News Magazine
February 3rd, 2012
11:26 pm
[...] Planned Parenthoodmsnbc.com (blog)Keep politics, health separateCt PostSan Jose Mercury News -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -ChristianityToday.comall 5,890 news [...]
Things that make you say...HMMMM
February 3rd, 2012
11:35 pm
Michael, first of all, I haven’t stepped into anything. I came to the blog, read a few comments on the first page at the time and then jumped to the last page at the time, which included your comment. No, I do not know what the laws on abortion were prior to 1973, since I was born in 1968. Frankly, at five years old, it wasn’t high on my list of things to do between playing with dolls and riding my bike! I don’t know you and don’t care to know you! My thoughts on this discussion are the same with or without you. You can’t legislate a woman’s body! Regardless of how a girl or woman becomes pregnant, she will do whatever she wants with it whether its legal or not. Its a personal decision and, if the person believes in God, she is aware that she will have to sort it out between her and her God! I don’t need to know the pre Roe v Wade laws to know that!
The Politics of Absolutely Everything – New York Times | Best News Feed - Daily News Magazine
February 3rd, 2012
11:48 pm
[...] Planned Parenthoodmsnbc.com (blog)Keep politics, health separateCt PostSan Jose Mercury News -Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) -ChristianityToday.comall 5,891 news [...]
William
February 4th, 2012
12:10 am
My wife is a breast cancer survivor so I have empathy for women and the threat breast cancer imposes, however, I find it implausible that breast cancer screenings have any place in Planned Parenthood. If Komen is trying to find a cure, why not place those funds in research? I think that’s what most contributors expect. I did when I made a donation.I think a narrow focus on the organizational goals would serve the organization and the contributors more appropriately rather than trying to be all things to all people and would alleviate the political squabbles created by these types of decisions. I wouldn’t fund Planned Parenthood (PP) because it doesn’t fit the mission of finding a cure. If they do intend to continue funding PP, I would hope that they get accountable records that every dollar provided did, indeed, go for cancer screenings. If not, pull the plug.
Greg
February 4th, 2012
8:28 am
Komen made a mistake when they hired Karen Handel.
Area man
February 4th, 2012
8:28 am
Kyle, Ari Fleischer is causing you great embarrassment this morning.
dd
February 4th, 2012
10:26 am
who cares. the more liberals that kill their babies means less liberals around to screw things up in the future.
JAWJA
February 4th, 2012
10:34 am
In what twisted universe does this situation get to be Planned parenthood’s fault? Keep on drinking the koolaid, kid. Karen Handel should be terminated as well as Susan’s sister. I personally, will never contribute or buy the pink ribbon items until Koman is cleaned out of political hacks. Koman is supposed to be about women’s health. Sad days for Susan.
MrPete
February 4th, 2012
10:56 am
@getalife Good for some new jobs. Horrible for over a million dropping out of the job market. Net effect: the depression of no jobs == people giving up on ever getting a job.
Can’t wait to see the end of O’s destruction of our nation.
MrPete
February 4th, 2012
11:14 am
I think a lot of people here should get off their high horse about PP and women’s health care. If it’s women’s health care you are really concerned about, you should be equally supportive of the groups that provide screenings without abortion advice.
Even more so, since PP doesn’t actually perform ANY screenings last I checked — they only refer people to other facilities (which your taxes pay for, separately.)
Here’s a controversial idea to get people at both extremes upset
— a fetus becomes a separate, viable life around 21 days, when it has its own oxygenated bloodstream. At that point it is no longer part of the mother. Medical advances have already brought NICU care to the point where at 20 weeks a baby has 50% chance of turning out fine. Some day it may get all the way down to 21 days.
Perhaps we need to be speaking for the unborn as early as 21 days… but not before?
MrPete
February 4th, 2012
11:24 am
Non-Hispanic white women account for 36% of abortions, non-Hispanic black women for 30%.
Factor in the population: 12% Black, 63% non-Hispanic white. If abortion were spread equally among the population, that would be the proportion of abortions seen. But instead… we see almost 3x the expected abortions among blacks, and about 1/2 the expected abortions among whites.
Sanger’s goals still reign supreme. Just as it was liberals who were last to support freedom for the slaves, and last to support civil rights, so too today. It is liberals who hold on to the mistaken belief that abortion is about every woman’s right to choose and that human lives in the womb have no rights. Eventually, you’ll get it: this industry was set up as a racist attempt to eliminate blacks. And it is quite successful.
Mister.Earl
February 4th, 2012
11:51 am
To be serious, the outcry against Komen many be a sign that the population that the country is tiring of GOP dementedly partisan politics and trying to infect every issue with their agenda like bed bugs in a cheap motel.
What I hope is that the GOP has reached the law of diminishing returns with their bullying right wing fundamentalism and are voters are finally getting turned off by their political mafia like hijacking of the political process.
I saw Nancy Brinker being interviewed by Andrea Mitchell, who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. Her attempting spin Komen’s decision sounded so obviously deceitful and phony as to make her sound like a burglar trying to explain to a police officer what they are doing with a bunch of jewelry belonging to a home owner.
This was a white Florida congressman, Cliff Stearns colluding with an organization supposedly dedicated to women’s health, to deprive women, mostly economically challenged and of color, of potentially life saving breast exams to win a political victory because their leadership has strong right wing views and associations..
Oh GOP, how can name thee, let the count the ways: nihilistic, racist, classist, homophobic, sexist, mendacious, sadistic, sociopathic…, – Martin Stein, Portland, NYT reader
RGB
February 4th, 2012
1:24 pm
I just heard a radio spot for Komen where the announcer said something like “Because everyone deserves a lifetime”.
Apparently not for “everyone”.
Planned Parenthood’s funds are fungible among their various “programs”.
Komen is essentially saying that there just aren’t any other medical clinics in the United States that could conduct breast cancer screenings except the one that also performs abortions on unborn babies.
It’s a sad irony that an organization that purports to aid women’s health has to team with an organization that permanently destroys the health of the unborn.
And if unborn babies are simply “an unviable tissue mass”, then why are the killers of pregnant women charged with two murders?
RGB
February 4th, 2012
1:25 pm
Mister dot Earl,
I see that “Marxist, Socialist, Statist, and Murder” are not on your list.
Those, sadly, are reserved for the Democrat Party.
Area man
February 4th, 2012
2:09 pm
@RGB, Seriously, sit down, have a cool glass of water.
Tom
February 4th, 2012
3:53 pm
RGB, the various state statutes that address fetal homicide apply themselves at different stages of gestation (and only about 2/3 of the staes even have one). Some are at 8 weeks, 12 weeks, “lightening” or even not until “viability”.
Now with Ten Percent More Flavor
February 4th, 2012
3:55 pm
Non-Hispanic white women account for 36% of abortions, non-Hispanic black women for 30%.
Out of all the abortions, more were for whites than for blacks. Six percent more, MrPete. Twist it any way you want but in the end MORE whites had abortions than did blacks. Further, the percentage of the population that is white is shrinking while the percentage that is black is growing. So have fun with your Sanger fear card if it makes you feel better.
OedipusTax
February 5th, 2012
7:32 am
Susan G. Komen won’t get a dime from anybody that believes that SGK’s agenda is to cure breast cancer first. Their agenda is to make money first, and big salaries for their employees, and if any money is left over, they can give it to Planned Parenthood, and after that, maybe a mammogram. That’s why they will no longer get a dime from my wife, nor me. It would be far more honest for Susan G. Komen to solicit funds for Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, and the Democratic Party.
Grace
February 5th, 2012
10:58 am
Who the freak is Kyle? And what does he know about the women’s movement or women’s issues? There was no relevance to his article. All opinion; no fact. That said, SK was believed to be about women and for women. Now this image is tarnished. The fundamental reasons and rights that SK supported, the trust and image of this great organization, is tarnished. It will take awhile for the trust to be rebuilt. Absolutely.
Boo
February 5th, 2012
12:37 pm
I like Nancy Brinker’s plan to give dollars to mammography clinics instead of Planned Parenthood. Nothing against PP….it would be a pay per patient. I don’t like my donation being passed on to another charitable organization.
bu2
February 7th, 2012
11:46 am
@Grace
SBK may have made a questionable decision, but it is Planned Parenthood and the liberals who have gone out of their way to destroy SBK while claiming they are about women’s issues. SBK has been permanently harmed by liberal politicians and Planned Parenthood who could have done a much more quiet campaign. SBK is now viewed as an organization that supports all liberal issues from conservatives and an organization that is doubtful in its support by liberals. Planned Parenthood doesn’t care about anything but winning. SBK didn’t remove support from PP where there were no other alternatives.
CJ
February 9th, 2012
4:51 pm
okay, let’s pass laws saying black people should be killed(we once did), and that it is okay to kill the elderly…according to John, whatever the flavor-of-the-month “LAW” is, is what we should follow??
Abortion is MURDER based on GOD’S law, “THOU SHALT NOT KILL”…until we realize that, we will keep having MORE Holocausts, more owners killing their slaves, and more atrocities…LEARN from the past…stop repeating it!!!