February 4, 2012 in Nation/World

Komen reverses move on Planned Parenthood

Charity restores funding for breast cancer services

David Crary Associated Press

NEW YORK – For leaders of the nation’s pre-eminent breast-cancer charity, it was a firestorm they didn’t see coming – and couldn’t withstand.

Susan G. Komen for the Cure on Friday abandoned plans to eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood. The dramatic retreat followed a three-day furor that resounded across the Internet, in Congress and – perhaps most tellingly – among Komen affiliates who openly rebelled, suggesting the leadership had bowed to anti-abortion pressure.

“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 future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under government investigation, citing a probe launched by a Florida congressman at the urging of anti-abortion groups.

“We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political,” Komen said Friday. “That is what is right and fair.”

As a result, Komen said, “we will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.”

Komen officials were unavailable for further comment on how they came to change their plans. There was no indication that the organization had come under pressure from its corporate partners.

But many of Komen’s own affiliates nationwide had objected to cutting off the grants, which totaled $680,000 in 2011. An Aspen, Colo., affiliate announced Thursday that it would defy the new rules and continue grants to its local Planned Parenthood partner, while all seven of Komen’s California affiliates said they “strongly opposed” the planned cutoff.

In addition, Komen was inundated with negative comments via emails, on Twitter and on its Facebook page. Many of the messages conveyed a determination to halt gifts to Komen – organizer of the popular Race for the Cure events – because of the decision.

Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood was reporting an outpouring of donations, large and small, that totaled $3 million between Tuesday evening and Friday afternoon. Planned Parenthood said the funds would be used to expand its breast health services, which already provide nearly 750,000 breast exams each year.

Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, said in a telephone news conference that she was astonished by the flow of donations and the often emotional support expressed for her organization on the Internet.

“This was simply a story, when it broke, it just caught fire,” she said. “This kind of political bullying – folks are just saying, ‘Enough.’ ”

Karl Eastlund, president and CEO of the Spokane-based Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho, said he was pleased to learn of the change of direction by Komen.

“Above all, we care about the ability to keep caring for patients,” Eastlund said.

Anti-abortion groups had pressed Komen for years to end its partnership with Planned Parenthood.

Abortion foes applauded earlier this week when the funding cutoff was reported, and were dismayed by Friday’s turnaround.

“The Susan G. Komen Foundation has caved in to the demands of radical abortion apologists,” said Douglas R. Scott Jr., of Life Decisions International, which had been mulling whether to remove Komen from a “boycott list” of Planned Parenthood partners.

Scott said Komen should have anticipated a backlash once word of its funding cutoff plans became public.

The charity, Scott said, “has either engaged in a nasty ruse … or it is led by the most naive people on Earth.”

Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life, accused Planned Parenthood of employing a “scorched-earth strategy to force compliance with their pro-abortion agenda.”

“I don’t find it surprising that Komen is dancing around trying to get their way out of this,” said Yoest, a breast-cancer survivor. “Who wants to go up against a billion-dollar organization which is perfectly capable of using thug tactics against even their friends?”

In Washington, Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., said he would press ahead with his investigation of Planned Parenthood, including assertions that it has improperly used public funds for abortions.

Republican presidential hopeful Rick Santorum, a former senator from Pennsylvania and a staunch foe of abortion, said he was disappointed by Komen’s shift.

“It’s unfortunate that public pressure builds to provide money to an organization that goes out and actively is the No. 1 abortion provider in the country,” he said.

But members of Congress who support abortion-rights were elated by Komen’s statement.

“It’s a great day when our deeply held belief that breast cancer can only be wiped out if we all work together has triumphed over right-wing politics,” said Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

It’s possible that Komen may, in the coming years, find ways of cutting ties with Planned Parenthood by other means. Komen founder and CEO Nancy Brinker, in a news conference Thursday, spoke of shifting more grant money to organizations which provide mammograms themselves – in contrast to Planned Parenthood’s practice of referring women elsewhere for mammograms.

Asked about this Friday, Richards said she was optimistic the renewed partnership would endure because of the close relationships between many Komen and Planned Parenthood local affiliates.

Nowhere was that solidarity more evident than in Aspen, where the Komen affiliate had placed an ad in a local newspaper declaring that it would defy the national edict and continue grants to its Planned Parenthood counterpart.

Marcia Goshorn, president of the Komen board in Aspen, said she was thrilled at Friday’s turnaround by the national leadership.

“I think they listened, and I’m proud of that,” she said.

Komen said it was immediately starting an outreach to its affiliates and supporters to get the charity back on track.

“We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue,” Komen’s statement said. “We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.”

Experts on the nonprofit world followed the week’s events with keen interest and marveled at the rapid spread of the backlash against Komen.

“It is very tough for nonprofits that are caught in these culture wars to figure out what to do,” said Stacey Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “I think they (Komen) underestimated how many women who supported them really cared deeply about this issue. … I don’t think they expected that kind of reaction.”

Among those welcoming the Komen shift was New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who made a $250,000 donation to Planned Parenthood after the funding cutoff was announced.

“I’m glad that in the end they came to the right decision,” said Bloomberg, who told MSNBC he will also continue to support Komen and urged others to do the same.

In the end, he said, “this is maybe a refresher to all of us” that both groups “do great work.”

37 comments on this story so far. Add yours!

nottored on February 04 at 7:26 a.m.
stop supporting kolman and send your dollers to an organization that does not give money to planned parenthood
Arbeautis on February 04 at 7:28 a.m.
Planned Parenthood clinics in 2009 performed 332,278 abortions – up from 324,008 in 2008, or a 2.5 percent increase. Planned Parenthood received $349.6 million in tax dollars in the fiscal year ending on June 30, 2008, according to its annual report. According to:
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/planned-parenthood-reports-abortion-rate-more-8000-one-year
nottored on February 04 at 7:32 a.m.
why do my tax dollers go to perform abortions
opiemuyo on February 04 at 7:59 a.m.
Respect is what is all about, or lack there of. Human life should be be treated with dignity and respect from conception until natural death, and at no time should it be considered a burden that cannot be born.
RedCedar on February 04 at 8:41 a.m.
Why do my tax dollars go to support pointless foreign wars, bailing out rich Wall Street tycoons, supporting the prices of wheat and butter, funding secret police forces, buying insanely expensive weaponry, imprisoning people for doing things I don’t think are wrong, and giving handouts to lazy bums? What makes abortion so special? Anyone who pays taxes has to see their tax dollars pay for lots of things they don’t like.
Let’s just say for the sake of argument that PP really does get $300 million in tax money, and that they do spend 3% of their budget on abortions. That means $10 million in taxpayer-funded abortions. I suspect the number is zero because the tax money is earmarked for certain purposes that don’t include abortions, but I’m being generous to the “my tax dollars…” people. So, out of a federal budget of $10^12, $10^7 goes for abortions. That’s one dollar out of every $10^5. Unless you pay more than $100,000/yr in taxes, your tax “dollars” aren’t going toward abortions at all, but instead it’s some fraction of a dollar. If you pay $1000 in tax, a penny goes to abortions. If you pay less than $500 in tax, it’s a rounding error and you pay nothing toward abortion.
If the issue is the amount of tax money, you should be concerned about social security, medicare, the military, and interest on the debt, before you even get to any discretionary spending. If the issue is your tax money, even a penny of it, going to support something you don’t like, then I have to assume you’re okay with all the things they spend 99.999% of the budget on.
nottored on February 04 at 8:48 a.m.
some of the things i do approve of
nottored on February 04 at 8:49 a.m.
the tax money may not directly fund the abortions but it helps the infrastructure to help abortions being performed.
nottored on February 04 at 8:50 a.m.
i am more concerned with killing people than some of the other things you mentioned
rosehips on February 04 at 9:04 a.m.
Anyone who is concerned with “killing people” should work on pollution issues that are killing thousands of people every year.
But I find that many of the anti-abortion folks are against environmental regulations that a designed to save millions of lives.
It confuses me how some people rationalize one issue and not another. Not to mention the “stewards of the earth” thingy.
nottored on February 04 at 9:12 a.m.
polution may kill thousands, but abortions kill millions
rosehips on February 04 at 10:22 a.m.
actually, I was understating. Pollution does kill millions.
rosehips on February 04 at 10:23 a.m.
so notored, the pollution deaths aren’t important because they are thwarted by abortions?
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 04 at 10:24 a.m.
To bad abortion is legal huh nottored? Maybe you should worry about the crazies on your side of this issue going around killing doctors, nurses and mothers who got an abortion…….those things are still illegal you know.
nottored on February 04 at 10:25 a.m.
killing abortion doctors should be illegal as should be doing abortions
liberal_in_right_wing_land on February 04 at 10:34 a.m.
Yeah well, killing doctors IS illegal and doing abortions IS legal, so maybe you should get your priorities straight and go after the crazies killing innocent people for doing a legal job.
nottored on February 04 at 10:38 a.m.
I think the babies are innocent, probably more so than the doctors
RedCedar on February 04 at 10:43 a.m.
I’m not being sarcastic here, nottored. If you feel that strongly that even one penny of every $1000 you pay in income tax might somehow go towards funding abortions, then you ought to either not pay your taxes at all, or withhold that amount each year and include a letter with your tax return to the effect that you are a conscientious objector. I remember when the Archbishop of Seattle refused to pay a large fraction of his income tax out of protest against the Vietnam War, and they never threw him in jail for it.
From what I’ve read, while the IRS hates “constitutional” or “sovereign” anti-tax people with a deep and burning passion and will use all the power they have against anyone who refuses to file a return on “constitutional” grounds, they almost always ignore those who file a return, declare their income, but don’t pay all or part of their tax, if they enclose a reasonable-sounding letter about why they morally object. Naturally they don’t publicize this policy, but when’s the last time you heard of an avowed pacifist, say, being thrown in jail for not paying his tax? The IRS has apparently decided that A) they would get a lot of bad publicity if they came down hard one really nice, and sometimes famous, conscientious objectors, and B) those sorts of people usually don’t make much money and don’t owe much tax anyway.
For the rest of us, who don’t have your degree of moral clarity, we grudgingly pay our taxes even though a lot of the money goes to things we think it shouldn’t.
Note_to_Self on February 04 at 11:09 a.m.
The Anti-choice crowd believes life begins at conception and ends at birth. The GOP has proposed cutting almost every program that benefits poor families-WIC, head start, school lunch programs, food stamps, earned income tax credits, etc., etc.,etc.
Note_to_Self on February 04 at 11:11 a.m.
And Medicaid for children with disabilities and mental illness.
nottored on February 04 at 11:23 a.m.
i believe that life starts at conception and enda at death
yes, the government should help those that poor and in need.
It should also help poor women if they want to carry a baby to term and give it up for adoption.
abortion does not have to be the first option.
Note_to_Self on February 04 at 11:38 a.m.
I dont believe it is ever the first option for anyone. It is usually an agonizing decision. Ifnyou want to help prevent abortion you should support planned parenthood’s efforts in family planning for poor women. Education is key not demonizing those that provide a legal service. Ultimately it is a woman’s decision, not yours.
jdspokanewa on February 04 at 2:38 p.m.
Like it or not, it is a philosophical and ideological question and issue and like it or not it is legal. If you want to change it, ask your congressperson why no legislation has been proposed or taken seriously to make abortion illegal. All this screaming and arguing only makes it a wedge issue and the ball is in the court of your precious GOP and always has been, yet they prefer to go about it through backdoors instead of taking on the issue head-on, keeping you anti-abortionists going nuts.
Planned Parenthood offers a very wide range of services from birth control, health and cancer screenings, STD testing, prevention programs and counselling to pregnant women which includes ALL legal options. Don’t like it, make it Illegal but stop hurting those who need some of those services most.
AnalyzeThat on February 04 at 2:52 p.m.
Amazing how Komen donating to PP for breast cancer health turns this thread into a debate about abortion.
Until we get rid of child abuse, I’m in favor of abortions.
SMARTGUY on February 04 at 3:35 p.m.
I am in the unique position of being the only liberal against abortion I guess. I find most of the arguments for abortion to be selfish. Killing a baby because it is inconvenient seems wrong to me. Supporting your baby at least until it is born, and can be adopted , seems like the least you could do, since you brought it into existence. The argument that it is just a cluster of cells, seems stupid, since at that point in life, so was everybody. Maybe the pro life people should try a different tactic, how about this for a bumper sticker “ If you think abortion is the right choice, it’s too bad your mother didn’t agree”
nottored on February 04 at 3:43 p.m.
I think you just summed up the argument pretty well
Diana on February 04 at 4:29 p.m.
@ SMARTGUY, you paint women with a pretty broad stroke (“convenience”). You can’t possibly know the situations that cause women to make the heart wrenching decisions to opt for abortion.
If it seems wrong to you, you are free to do as your conscience dictates, but don’t think for a moment you have any say in the decisions women make.
greenlibertarian on February 04 at 6:43 p.m.
Fundies and ignorant who make dozens of one sentence comments and inane questions always ignore the LAW OF UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES!
Fundies et. al. completely MISJUDGED the support that PP has in the community that is concerned about breast cancer.
Komen doesn’t deserve to recover from this, either. Their model is shady at best, and its about time they get the message.
To review, fundies act stupidly, backtrack, and lose in the end. Planned Parent is strengthened.
Good job, fundies.
We in the reality based community appreciate it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QPZfcYTUaA&feature=youtu.be
Billions of dollars have been raised through the tireless efforts of women and men devoted to putting an end to breast cancer. Yet, breast cancer rates in North America have risen to 1 in 8. “What’s going on?” asks Barbara Brenner in Pink Ribbons, Inc. a new film coming in 2012.
Rod_Foss on February 04 at 6:53 p.m.
No matter how any of you skew your arguments, these 2 facts remain irrefutable:
1. Komen is a private charity that can do as it pleases with its money (unless liberals declare, without having power to do so, that any charitable organization must conform to liberal whims).
2. Abortion kills a genuine human being, potentially a future liberal.
Traveler on February 04 at 7:07 p.m.
1. Komen is free to change its mind, should its supporters demand it.
2. Hitler wasn’t aborted. Neither were Stalin, Pol Pot, Ted Kaczyinski, Jared Loughner, the Columbine killers, Gary Ridgway, Timothy McVeigh, … The list is practically endless. Wikipedia makes a pretty good effort (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_rampage_killers), but bring a snack; it’s pretty long.
greenlibertarian on February 04 at 7:10 p.m.
No matter how any of you skew your arguments, these 4 facts remain irrefutable:
1. Planned Parenthood is a private medical provider that can do as it pleases legally with its money (unless fundies declare, without having power to do so, that any private organization must conform to fundie whims).
2. By order of the highest court in the land after due consideration, a fetus does not possess the humanity or personhood of a born person.
3. Because of Komen Cancer© ill-advised moves, Planned Parenthood has more money and more positive publicity than they did before Komen Cancer© screwed up.
4. Planned Parenthood prevents more abortions than any other organization.
woamike on February 04 at 8:04 p.m.
@ greenLIBertarian,
As usual, some of your “irrefutable” facts are found lacking:
You say:
“By order of the highest court in the land after due consideration, a fetus does not possess the humanity or personhood of a born person.”
If the highest court in the land after due consideration, “ordered” the sun will not rise on the morrow, would it be so? The same court (after due consideration, of course) found at one time that slavery was OK and that it was OK to inter Japanese American citizens in camps w/o due process. Those are not the only heinous decisions it came to after “due consideration.” Certainly you’re not saying the “highest court in the land” is infallible are you? Perhaps only infallible with respect to the decisions you agree with?
You say:
“Planned Parenthood *prevents* more abortions than any other organization.”
While it certainly is an irrefutable fact that PP performs more abortions that any organization, how on earth do you intend to “irrefutably” “prove” they prevent more abortions that anyone? Are you some kind of a magician? Or, just drinking the PP Kool-aid?
Here’s an OPINION: THE single most important thing PP does in the eyes of its defenders is provide abortions while defending a woman’s “right” to do so. EVERYTHING else it does is a fig leaf.
You call it a “choice”. When that “choice” stops the beating heart of a developing child in its mother’s womb because the subsequent birth of that child would have been an inconvenience to said “mother”, I call it something else. . .
Rod_Foss on February 04 at 9:15 p.m.
Only 3% towards abortion?
According to the National Right To Life Committee (I’ll take their statistics over PP’s or any liberal organization’s any day), those costs are unbundled. Every subprocedure to an abortion is set aside as its own cost, supposedly not connected to the actual ripping out of the baby. Looked at that way, the percentages appear good. Looked at realistically (shall we say “pragmatically,” the way liberals like it?) the real percentage is somewhere between 20 and 30%. (Go argue with NRTLC if you don’t like realistic percentages.)
Forget percentages of cost or budget. Let’s look, “pragmatically,” at raw numbers…they are not disingenuous. PP is the single-most prolific provider of abortions in America. (I don’t give a rat’s patoot about how many abortions they supposedly prevent.) The tally, nation wide, is 50 million, over almost 40 years.
I’ll be generous and suppose PP is responsible for “only” 10% of the total (yeah, I just said “percentage,” but I’m coming immediately to a real number). Why, that’s 5 million! And what do we call slaughter on that scale at the hands of a specific ideology, from a single organization, that supposedly is “enlightened” and “progressive”? Is it not genocide, infanticide, mass murder? Of course the bottom line of this wealthy “health” provider has nothing to do with it. Those deaths are just the inevitable collateral of PP’s peculiar brand of “benevolence.”
Do not criminal organizations “front” with a “legitimate” or publicly pleasing product or service, so that no one will pay attention to the ugly or grisly activity that happens in the back rooms? The benign health services are slick window dressing, disguising the real money-maker for the organization — abortion.
Hey! If abortion is so unimportant to PP, percentage-wise, let the whole nation put the pressure on them (like it put on Komen), to drop the “trivial” activity and stick to real “women’s health.” Oh how I would love to see that! The truth would snake out and expose PP for the evil thing it really is. Just touch PP’s real money-maker and watch what happens!
PP is as vile and corrupt an organization on the planet. No one “has to” go to them for health care.
greenlibertarian on February 04 at 9:35 p.m.
Looky, the fertilized embryos are singing in the Petri dish, let’s have a listen, shall we?
“Jesus loves the little blastocysts,
All the little blastocysts in the world.
Red or yellow, black or white,
Straight or gay, He does not fright,
They are equal in His sight,
Jesus loves the little blastocysts of the world.”
It’s really too bad that the anti-abortion crowd doesn’t do enough to get the law changed to ban abortion. Slackers.
I’ve heard President Romney will change that.
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woamike on February 04 at 9:39 p.m.
@ Glib,
“nice” come-back. That’s all you got? Perhaps you’re too busy helping PP “prevent” all those abortions. . .
greenlibertarian on February 04 at 9:53 p.m.
Don’t waist one precious first trimester of a second typing on these fora, woam.
GET OUT YOUR CREDIT CARD AND PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR MOUTH IS!
GIVE to Washington State for Romney. NOW!
Think of the blastocysts! Oh, the humanity!
Traveler on February 04 at 9:58 p.m.
Dang it, greenlib, now I’ve got that song running through my head!
jdspokanewa on February 04 at 10:02 p.m.
If I had a nickel for every time I see woamike post “is that all ya got” messages, I’d be in Willard Romney’s financial territory.
Is that all you got?
And Rod_Foss,
Admit it, you’re fighting an ideological battle by vilifying organizations that LEGALLY provide services. If you hate what they do, make it illegal or admit you’re in the minority.
Why is it that this “baby” has rights but women and homosexuals do not? What is it with you bible thumpers?