Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

There seems to be some concern about screening for low income women not being available with the decision not to give money to Planned Parenthood- screening that was funded thru the Komen Foundation to the PP agencies. These monies will be used through other outlets to continue to provide services to those women who might not otherwise get cancer screenings. The issue for Komen is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation by the federal government for several possible issues including misuse of federal funds so I applaud Komen for this move. Also, it seems Planned Parenthood is using the publicity from this issue to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars so it may well come out to be financially beneficial for them.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

The Komen website has de-activated the 'response' section. But another news link contains plenty of uproars from the public.

I think the CEO of Komen has always been a smart, responsible business woman. She explained well in the video below what really had happened. And as is pointed out by NanaJoni, Planned Parenthood actually has come out ahead ...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/0...susan-g-komen/

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

It would seem that Komen isn't the only entity killing funding to Planned Parenthood. This from my home state -

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20...text|FRONTPAGE

On this one PP is actually suing the state of TN - maybe not the best use of their budget which comes mostly from government agencies. The Tennessee Dept of Health offers all the programs and screenings that PP has in the local county health dept. offices so it is redundant to fund Planned Parenthood. State budgets are tight here in Tennessee so I commend our legislature for keeping the money for use it it's own health dept.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

I have no doubt in my mind that both the congressional "investigation" and the decision by SGK to defund PP are politically motivated and are part of the current escalating war on women and poor people in our country. Penn State is also being investigated, but SGK didn't pull a multi-million dollar grant from them.

Three percent of PP money goes to abortions. They carefully sequester that part of their practice from the other 97%, because the rule prohibiting federal funds from being used for abortions has been in place--and vigilantly enforced--for a very long time.

SGK seriously underestimated the support for PP in this country. They are backpeddling furiously, and not very credibly. This will hurt them.

That doesn't actually bother me very much. I think the organization has become a PR firm for its corporate sponsors. They've confused the means for the end. Their stated purpose is to cure breast cancer, but they've gotten in bed with the cancer industrial complex and they've started trading on misery and rebranding it as "hope" and triumph. Slapping a pink Komen logo on a product makes it sell because it makes people think they're doing something. That has become SGK's true mission--making more money. That's the reason stage iv people are kind of a dirty little secret. That just isn't a "feel good" message.

The fact is, some 40% of early stage breast cancer ends up metastatic, and somewhere around 10% is metastatic when it's diagnosed. I don't get real elated about those numbers.

I think it's time the public took a closer look at what Komen does and where it allocates funds.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Living in a "pro life" state can be very hazardous to a U.S. woman's health. Here's an article about the death rate from cervical cancer which is preventable with a Pap smear and highly curable, only you have to be able to get the screening. http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opi...143426797.html

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

+1 - very well stated.

Hopeful

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

SGK Foundation appologizes:

http://thenewcivilrightsmovement.com...12/02/03/34081

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Amy,
I am with you.
k

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

I have not kept up with the controversy. However I feel I need to contribute my two cents worth. Komen isn't all bad. They may want to distribute their funds elsewhere to help women.
Starting next week I will be a receipent of some extra health care services thanks to a Komen grant for breast cancer patients and survivors.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

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.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

And both entities had big jumps in donations because of this flap...although there are likely some SGK donors with buyer's remorse as of today.

Does anyone know if Planned Parenthood facilitates adoption? I don't see it on their website.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Planned Parenthood does provide adoption service, however small in comparison with its abortion service:

http://www.lifenews.com/2011/12/30/p...doptions-drop/

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Not surprisingly, I am again disappointed in the Komen Foundation. Planned Parenthood gets $487 million a year (yes, that's 1/2 a billion dollars) from the federal govt (you and I). It would seem that's a pretty good budget for the services they provide.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Planned Parenthood provides vital primary health care (cancer screenings, sexually transmitted infection screening and treatment, well-woman care, and contraception) to millions of people who have nowhere else to go. County health departments do NOT prioritize women's health. Ninety-seven percent of what Planned Parenthood does is that work. Three percent of what they do is provide privately funded abortion services. People who want to kill off Planned Parenthood don't care about the post-natal people who will be harmed if they succeed. That's irrational and logically (and ethically) inconsistent.

When I was young and uninsured I used Planned Parenthood for my health care, including contraception. I could not have afforded it otherwise. If you are opposed to abortion then you should be actively promoting contraception. Yet every Republican presidential candidate has started saying he has a problem with that as well. For crying out loud, this is the 21st century and there are seven billion people on the planet. Contraception is good for all of us.

As the article I posted yesterday indicated, "pro-life" states have the highest death rates from cervical cancer--precisely because they won't use their federal tax money to fund women's health clinics like Planned Parenthood. Seriously? Cervical cancer??? Unlike breast cancer, the screening test actually does catch it in its precancerous state, and a cheap, easy little procedure will get rid of it. Even if cancer develops, it's so slow-growing that it's an outrage and a scandal that any woman anywhere in our country ever dies from it. Here are a couple of CDC maps that show the occurrence rate and death rate: http://www.cdc.gov/cancer/cervical/statistics/state.htm

I didn't say SKG is bad. I said it's worthwhile to take a closer look at them. Nancy Brinker was quoted last fall as saying she didn't think the cure for breast cancer would come from a laboratory. That was probably to defend the fact that only 19% of the money they bring in goes to research. Can she name any other disease since the nineteenth century that was cured anywhere BUT a laboratory? The only thing she has done to become an "expert" in this is raise a lot of money and gain a lot of notoriety. That, unfortunately, is what happens when you use a "free market" model for solving a massive public health problem.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

I agree with you about excessive pinkwashing focus in some organizations. Like any "non-profit", they need to be watched. (I can't remember the one that was recently dismantled after gross fraud was uncovered) But whatever one personally thinks about PP, it should be no surprise that some folks donating to a breast cancer organization might be surprised to see they are somehow supporting PP. As it stands Komen had a policy to not fund organizations under investigation and they made an exception based on backlash. It seems a bit overblown if PP could make up the difference in a couple days. Now they get those donations plus the money that those donations were to make up for. And Komen will likely keep the money that came in from those who were in favor of the original policy. Of course, Komen may lose net donations going forward.
The cervical cancer map is disturbing. I have to wonder if there's more to it than access to PP or pro-life status.
If your right about free market's inability to solve BC, I hope those nationalized systems step up and get this over ;)

update: 3 million $ and counting in donations to PP.

What better way to express hope and health than a $429.99 hand gun?
 

The Susan G. Komen Foundation, which has found itself in the center of a storm over abortion this week after cutting off Planned Parenthood, may have just stepped into another emotional policy debate: guns.

A Seattle-area company, Discount Gun Sales, is advertising a "Walther P-22 Hope Edition."

The company says on its website: Discount Gun Sales is proud to team up with the Susan B. Koman Foundation to offer the Walther P-22 Hope Edition in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

A portion of each P-22 Hope Edition will be donated to the Seattle Branch of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. The P-22 Hope Edition has an exclusive DuraCoat Pink slide in recognition of Breast Cancer Awareness month. Utilizing the same reliable controls and firing mechanism that has made the Walther P-22 America's top selling handgun, the Hope Edition will be a limited production pistol offered exclusively through Discount Gun Sales.

The price is $429.99.

The Walter P-22 was made infamous in 2007 when it became one of two pistols used to killed 32 people at Virginia Tech University.

Last year, Federal Premium Ammunition began offering pink shotgun shells with some of the proceeds going to breast cancer research.

What better way to express hope and health than a $429.99 hand gun?

http://www.wisconsingazette.com/brea...ess-month.html

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

Although I'm in the camp of if you outlaw guns only outlaws will have guns, this is another distasteful moment in pinkwashing.
If they start pinking AK-47s the whole "Army of Women" thing goes to another level.

Link to a story about the investigation that triggered Komen's policy:
http://www.ocala.com/article/2012020...nt02?p=1&tc=pg

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

There was an article in the newspaper last night about this. The local Hawaii office of Planned Parenthood does not apply for Susan Komen Grants. The Hawaii Susan Komen office gives grants directly to community health centers, hospitals and medical professionals who apply for grants for various women's health services, mainly for low income women, under insured women or women with no health insurance. This means the whole Planned Parenthood/Susan Komen issue is a non issue in Hawaii.

Re: Komen pulls screening grants from Planned Parenthood
 

A top official at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure breast cancer foundation resigned today following the charity's decision to reverse its policy barring funding for Planned Parenthood.
Karen Handel, a former Republican gubernatorial candidate in Georgia, denied in her resignation letter that she had anything to do with the decision to end funding for Planned Parenthood, which she says was made under guidelines formulated before she was hired.
Critics of the foundation's decision linked the move to Handel, a vocal opponent of abortion and Planned Parenthood.
"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen's future and the women we serve," she wrote in the letter that was obtained by several media outlets. "However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone's political beliefs or ideology."
"What was a thoughtful and thoroughly reviewed decision - one that would have indeed enabled Komen to deliver even greater community impact - has unfortunately been turned into something about politics. This is entirely untrue. This development should sadden us all greatly," she added.
Handel declined a severance package.
The Susan G. Komen foundation confirmed Handel's resignation and acknowledged "mistakes" in the way it handled the controversy that erupted last week.
"We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission," the organization's chief executive and founder, Nancy Brinker, said in a statement. "Today I accepted the resignation of Karen Handel… I have known Karen for many years, and we both share a common commitment to our organization's lifelong mission, which must always remain our sole focus. I wish her the best in future endeavors."