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Lesson in Komen Communications Debacle? Honesty Is the Best Policy?

Komen really should have simply said: Planned Parenthood does not do mammograms; our mission dictates we be more direct in our funding support. Komen did not do that because then Komen would sound like a pro-life organization, because only pro-life organizations tend to point that out. The thing is, it also happens to be true!

New on The Corner. . .


COMMENTS   12

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   02/03/12 11:47

Mammograms are only recommended as standard screening for women over forty.

It is ironic that an organization founded in memory of a woman who was diagnosed with breast cancer at an age of 33 would not support the kind of screening (manual breast exam) that is recommended for women of that age--especially since that kind of screening is also the one normally paired with another very key cancer screening for women, the Pap smear (mammography centers don't typically do paps).

If one wants to fight cancer, it doesn't seem like Komen is good at making the right decisions on how to spend resources.

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   02/03/12 11:47

I thought they were pretty honest. Plus, what does it matter? They can give their money to anyone they please. I'm disgusted by Komen's decision in this matter.

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   02/03/12 13:10

I'm even more disgusted by their INDECISION.

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   02/03/12 11:55

does your primary care physician provide mammograms, in her office?

didn't think so...

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   02/03/12 11:54

Planned Parenthood does mammography referals and breast cancer screenings for women who wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise. That is what the grants were for. I think that is something everyone, and thankfully now even the Susan G. Komen Foundation, can get behind. The pro-life wing of the executive board of Komen just succeeded in tying PP to breast cancer screenings in addition to making them over a million dollars in donations over the past 48 hours. Have fun defunding PP through congress now.

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Cheryl in NC
   02/03/12 11:55

It's the same in my eyes as Romney saying the poor have a safety net. He told the truth and was roasted over a sky high fire by both the left and the right. Komen didn't tell the truth and was roasted by the left, but not the right.

Tell the truth get hit on both sides..........tell a lie and only get hit by the left. Interesting concept there.

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   02/03/12 12:04

From a comment I posted shortly before the about-face, I think that Komen would have been better off it if had simply stated from the start that it was severing ties with Planned Parenthood because the association was controversial, distracted from Komen's mission, and entangled the organization unnecessarily with the politics of abortion.

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   02/03/12 12:29

Just no mammograms? I thought PP didn't do any "screenings" whatsoever? Or was it "breast services" they don't do? External Link 

Lopez has no idea what PP does except what she is told by culture warriors who don't mind lying to bring the down an enemy.

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   02/03/12 12:35

"Komen really should have simply said: Planned Parenthood does not do mammograms, our mission dictates with be more direct in our funding support." Huh? Is that a sentence?

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   02/03/12 12:52

Save for the typo, this is a great post.

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   02/03/12 18:07

She's corrected the typo, though, as per SOP, hasn't acknowledged editing the post.

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IronyAbounds
   02/03/12 13:01

This isn't rocket science. Virtually all places that perform mammograms require a referral, so without a referral it is difficult to get a mammogram. PP provided referrals for mammograms, and is one of the most likely organizations for referrals for the poor. Komen really can't just directly fund mammograms - the funding of organizations that provide referrals is what gets mammograms performed. This was clearly a case where Komen wanted to disassociate itself from PP for political reasons (and if Karen Handel had nothing to do with it I'll eat my hat), but rather than being honest about it they created criteria that in reality only applied to PP and tried to obfuscate the whole thing. Komen is getting what it deserved.

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