S.G.Komen for Cure caves to Right wingers - no grants For PP

[smores]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/ ... WA20120203

ETA: That's where they went back on the decision and apologized (according to Reuters, I didn't bother reading further, I don't like SGK anyways)

[Nothing2CHere]

Here's what I read on Yahoo! just now:

NEW YORK (AP) — After three days of controversy, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast-cancer charity says it is reversing its decision to cut breast-screening grants to Planned Parenthood.

"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," a Komen statement said.

As first reported by The Associated Press on Tuesday, Komen had adopted criteria excluding Planned Parenthood from grants because it was under government investigation, notably a probe launched in Congress at the urging of anti-abortion groups.

Komen said Friday it would change the criteria so it wouldn't apply to such investigations.

"We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants," the statement said.

[kpmom]

Wow. They must have got a ton of crap handed to them to reverse that decision. Good!!

[Kailis]

I am trying so hard right now to contain myself and not rip someone to shreds over this. One of my old dance teachers is a fundie, who has posted links to several blogs we discuss here on the FBook. About 15 minutes after I posted this article:

[link=]http://jezebel.com/5881802/an-accounting-of-komens-impressive-financial-hypocrisy[/link]

...She posted this article:

[link=]http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/290083/you-should-find-anti-komen-backlash-disgusting-even-if-youre-pro-choice-daniel-foster[/link]

And all I want to tell her is:

"Why yes, I do know that Susan G. Komen for the Cure has the right to donate their money as they see fit. That's not the issue for me. The issue is they have stated that they withdrew funding because Planned Parenthood is under investigation. Again, that's fine. It's their money. But I need to know why they won't remove their $7.5 million grant from Penn State as well. I need to know why this organization is picking and choosing when to apply the rules it has created. So for me, the question isn't 'Why Have You Taken Away Planned Parenthood's Money?', it's 'Why Have You Taken Away ONLY Planned Parenthood's Money?'

Cancer isn't a pink ribbon. Support finding a cure rather than the commercialization and politicalization of a deadly disease."

[freehannie]

I saw the documentary Pink Ribbons Inc. last night that was referred to upthread. It is based on the book and definitely exposes the problems inherent in cause marketing such as conflicts between corporate interests and the interests of women. Komen did not come off looking good. And Planned Parenthood had a table outside the theater which saw a lot of traffic.

[Elle]

These are the same nutjobs who don't want me to have access to health care because I have a history of cancer (not breast, but still). If they have their way and repeal the Health Care Reform law, continue to force groups like Susan G. Komen to cut funding from PP, etc where exactly am I ( and many cancer survivors) supposed to turn? They don't give us health care through private insurance and then they defund the agency where I can go and get nearly free preventative screening in the hopes that I will catch any resurgence of cancer. What am I supposed to do? Get a mammogram in a back alley next to the illegal abortions? Seriously, this bullshit infuriates me

Please don't worry. People are committed to donating to PP now instead of Komen. This is the best thing that could have happened. PP has has more donations come in in the weeks since this than Komen would have given in a couple years.

[LadyBlue]

I think one of the more annoying/disgusting things about all these cancer charities, Komen being the most egregious, is the hyperfocus on a cure. A cure would be great, but how about until then, you at least give people some ways to reduce your risk in the first place. Even if a cure existed, I'd rather try to avoid it in the first place. One reason I was determined to breastfeed is because it reduces your risk of breast and uterine/cervical/ovarian cancer (and now seems to reduce the risk of heart disease, too). Now that my birth mother has had breast cancer and her sister died from it, I'm really grateful I had already been breastfeeding my kids long enough to reduce my risks.

And why do we need so many cancer charities, anyway? Maybe we'd be a lot closer to cures if they'd all pool their resources and research.