Today the Susan G. Komen foundation issued a statement indicating that they will continue to fund existing grants to Planned Parenthood and preserve Planned Parenthood’s right to apply for grants in the future. Numerous mainstream media outlets are gleefully reporting that the Komen foundation has reversed its previous decision to defund Planned Parenthood. However, a close reading of the statement indicates that this is not necessarily the case. Furthermore, commentators would be foolish to describe this week’s events as either a win for Planned Parenthood or as a setback for the pro-life movement.
First the Komen foundation had always planned to fund the Planned Parenthood grants that it had already approved. Furthermore, today’s statement did not award or guarantee any new grants to Planned Parenthood. They just simply stated that Planned Parenthood is eligible to apply for grants in the future. Of course the future funding decisions of the foundation will certainly be of interest to pro-lifers.
The important lesson that most of the mainstream media is missing is that the Susan G. Komen foundation, like many charities, obtains support from an ideologically diverse group of donors. As such, their decision to defund Planned Parenthood was very courageous and to be frank – probably inconsistent with their own self-interest. Relatively few people were aware of Komen foundation’s support for Planned Parenthood. Furthermore, the Komen foundation’s support for Planned Parenthood hurt their reputation among only a very small number of committed pro-life activists.
Charities are always interested in obtaining more supporters. As such, a public decision to cut Planned Parenthood funding and the resulting media backlash was almost certainly going to do more harm than good. If a charity creates a critical mass of new enemies, common sense suggests they are going to engage in some public relations to either mollify them or possibly regain their support. That is certainly how one could read the Komen foundation’s statement. Again, they are not awarding any new grants to Planned Parenthood; they are simply stating that Planned Parenthood is eligible for future grants.
When the Komen foundation’s decision was announced earlier this week, Planned Parenthood quickly resorted to their typical brass-knuckle tactics in an attempt to get the decision changed. They used their formidable spin machine to attack, insult, and publicly question the motives of the Komen foundation. All of this is unsurprising, since, during the debate on health-care reform, Planned Parenthood was quite willing to kill the bill rather than allow for minor abortion restrictions. Later, Planned Parenthood wanted President Obama and their Democratic allies to shut down the government instead of passing a budget that reduced federal funding for Planned Parenthood.
In recent years pro-lifers have done a good job damaging the credibility and reputation of Planned Parenthood. This work has to continue. Just a short while ago, it would have been unthinkable for a group like the Komen foundation to sever its ties with Planned Parenthood. However, the fact that Planned Parenthood may no longer receive any future grants from such a popular charity is evidence of pro-life progress.
— Michael New is an assistant professor at the University of Michigan–Dearborn and a fellow at the Witherspoon Institute in Princeton, N.J.
Komen's initial move was courageous. It was not very courageous.
To be very courageous would have meant explaining its rationale in a clear and principled way -- not hiding behind a fleeting congressional inquiry.
By being only mildly courageous Komen has alienated both sides of the social divide. But the take-away lesson to them (and most onlookers) will be to never exercise courage or principle in even small measures. Which makes it ever more difficult for us to mend the PP culture that dominates so many institutions.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"...commentators would be foolish to describe this week’s events as either a win for Planned Parenthood or as a setback for the pro-life movement."
Foolish. $3 million in 3 days donated to the Planned Parenthood coffers, and a debilitating blow to the freakshow right-to-life movement who can't seem to join the 18th century let alone the 21st with your/their mindless thinking. Call me foolish. You just scored a perfect 10 on the richter scale of stupidity with this garbage piece of opinion.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseNow we know, if we have made contributions in the past, not to do so anymore.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseA breast cancer awareness group funding an abortion clinic is a loss for all.
The only benefit is that now all pro-lifers are aware the SGK funds Planned unParenthood, so they know not to give. I was one of those who didn't know.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwo days ago the Komen foundation was a non-partisan organization concerned only with breast cancer. Now the Komen foundation is also an anti-choice organization. Half of America, and more than half of the Komen foundation donor base, do not want to support anti-choice activity.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHow and why do PP acolytes feel so passionately that the organization needs to be defended?
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I had no idea that the Komen Foundation had such close ties to Planned Parenthood. Now that I know that, I think much less of their cause. An organization whose principle mission is saving lives caves into pressure from individuals and groups whose principle mission is abortion on demand. How do you square that?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThe most instructive part of this whole controversy in my view is the reaction of Planned Parenthood when the Komen Foundation first announced that they were going to discontinue funding their grants. We saw a perfect illustration of the liberal entitlement mentality. Never mind that SGK is a privately run organization and can give money to whoever the heck they feel like; they can stop giving money whenever they feel like. Planned Parenthood acted in just the manner you would expect to see a bunch of leftists act when you try to take away what is really nothing more than a charitable donation. You cannot do that - they're entitled and deserve THEIR money! Bring out the heavy liberal artillery.
We should all tale a lesson from this. NEVER start donating to a left wing cause. You'll be on the hook forever.
I have read in the past of reputable researchers from esteemed universities, one of whom I believe to have been a woman, who established a link between abortion and breast cancer.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseCan anyone here vette that? Is, or was, it a pro-life position overreach, or a reasonable probability?
I can't claim to know one way or the other, but I would bet money that if a scientist did find such a link or anything that revealed a downside to abortion, I bet that their fire would be put out rather quickly by the "scientific" consensus authoritarians and would never be published in the holy books of reason.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIn reply to johnqpublis, see the abortion breast cancer link
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This is a quote from Ms. Nancy Brinker, of Komen's Race for the Cure:
“We have decided not to fund, wherever possible, pass-through grants. We were giving them money, they were sending women out for mammograms. What we would like to have are clinics where we can directly fund mammograms.”
So now, PP will continue taking a cut of that money, since there is an administrative cost associated with processing it. The people who provide the actual mammography will therefore receive LESS money to perform that service.
In other words, the ridiculous (and often childish...Wiki entry re-writes, hacking, etc.) backlash will result in harm to the stated goal of providing women's health services. If the folks who reacted so strongly would have stopped to actually listen to Komen, things wouldn't have worked themselves out this way.
I read someone elsewhere compare the initial Komen decision to the NAACP suddenly supporting efforts to make blacks ride in the back of the bus. (An absurd analogy, I know.)
However, to extend the NAACP analogy one step further: The backlash is like boycotting a business for providing work to unemployed minorities instead of sending the NAACP money in order to lobby the government for more jobs for minorities.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse". . . the Komen foundation’s support for Planned Parenthood hurt their reputation among only a very small number of committed pro-life activists."
I'm not so sure this is true, as most pro-life Americans are not big fans of abortion mills and Planned Parenthood is the biggest. Many pro-life Americans never knew of the connection between Komen and PP and are not pleased about that connection now that they do. To assume that the only people who will object to the alliance between Komen and PP is a "small number of committed pro-life activitists" is to underestimate the quiet opposition from pro-life Americans. They might not show up in bright pink t-shirts waving signs, but they will very likely direct their charitable contributions elsewhere. Komen is the biggest and best known breast cancer non-profit, but it isn't the only game in town and if pro-life Americans believe a portion of what they contribute to Komen is used to fund PP's abortion mill, they will find other places to spend their charitable dollars. I have and I believe others will do the same.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseJenna, I had no idea that Komen For The Cure was giving money to Planned Parenthood.
Reply to this commentLinkReport Abuse"(Planned Parenthood) used their formidable spin machine to attack, insult, and publicly question the motives of the Komen foundation."
Wow. Planned Parenthood OWNED the organizational equivalent of Leona Helmsley. Nice. Must remember Planned Parenthood in my will.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseSo Michael New tells pro-lifers they should take pride in their successful targeting and bullying of a private organization (Planned Parenthood), while the rest of NRO contributors says that kind of behavior is outrageous w/r/t another private organization (Susan G. Komen for the Cure). Frankly, I don't think WFB would have allowed that kind of brazen hypocrisy to stand - even in support of a cause he favored...
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseKomen is pro-abortion. Period.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTwo thoughts come to mind:
First, Komen has massively damaged their brand with this. Like it or not, they are now a political lightning rod...tied at the hip with Planned Parenthood. I don't see how that doesn't negatively impact their corporate fundraising. For example, the NFL may be perfectly happy to have Komen branding on the field, on their uniforms, etc, but they are not going to want that if Komen becomes a source of constant controversy.
Second, what amazes me about this is the un-critical and thoughtless way the left played it out. Komen's original decision essentially said "we think there are better ways for us to achieve our mission". Who is to say that wasn't true? I mean, on the merits, how do we know that re-directing their contributions won't have the effect of improving overall breast cancer results? We don't. Planned Parenthood's advocates don't know either. They just jumped to the conclusion that "if its bad for PP, then its bad".
Which is to say, they put PP above any actual analysis of what will deliver the most public good.
Disgusting.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo call Planned Parenthood an abortion mill (3% of its business) is despicable. Those who condemn Planned Parenthood are ignorant to vital the care it provides underprivileged women, who cannot get the prescription for the mammogram so easily obtained by the privileged few.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseTo see this tantrum by PP as anything other than a win is naive. Komen backed down and as a person who invests time and money helping poor women bring their babies to full term, I was viscerally disgusted with the reversal. PP and the media will now only be heartened to smack down others. This was a classic case of over reach by PP, yet they got away with it. Where is the fortitude to stand up to these thugs? Are there any adults left in America?
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt was spectacularly bad timing to announce such a change. Obama had just unveiled his health insurance rules forcing Catholic hospitals, institutions, and insurance plans to fund contraception and abortion, exciting a blood lust in the left as they rejoiced in the prospect of more dead babies. Komen stepped right into it, as if they were chumming for sharks.
The merchants of death and their leftist cheerleaders will not stand for their unearned funds to be reduced by a penny. You just can't kill all those babies for free.
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