While some claim the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s defunding of Planned Parenthood was merely a right-wing attack on the foundation, evidence suggests that the decision was completely justified, for Planned Parenthood was misleading in its use of funds.
Nancy Brinker, the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure CEO, explained the main reason the foundation withdrew its grants to Planned Parenthood.
“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,” Brinker said.
Live Action, a youth led pro-life movement, conducted a study in March which uncovered the truth that Planned Parenthood does actually not conduct breast exams. Blogger Jill Stanek called 30 Planned Parenthood centers in 27 different states, each of which admitted they could not perform mammograms.
Even a former Planned Parenthood director in Texas, Abby Johnson, admitted Planned Parenthood had been misleading about its services.
“For so long PP has touted that they are a provider of mammogram services,” she said. “This is just one of the lies that Planned Parenthood uses to draw people into their clinics. PP is not able to provide quality services on their own, so they are forced to lie to the public about services they don’t provide – and mammograms are just one of those services.”
Yes, the Komen foundation did not defund smaller organizations which also direct women elsewhere for breast exams, but these organizations have done less damage than Planned Parenthood for women and their well-being. The most harm Planned Parenthood has caused for women, I would argue, is in its provided abortions.
Even the organization’s founder, Margaret Sanger, criticized abortion, once writing, “"While there are cases where even the law recognizes an abortion as justifiable if recommended by a physician, I assert that the hundreds of thousands of abortions performed in America each year are a disgrace to civilization."
The company, which receives millions of dollars each year from the government and has tried to defend taxpayer subsidies, has used an overwhelming amount of its money to perform not breast cancer screenings, but abortions. Provisions in place may restrict Planned Parenthood from using federal funding to directly perform abortions, but it seems that this government aid has only allowed the organization to perform them by freeing up its other contributions. The company’s abortion services seem contrary to the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s mission to protect womens’ health. Abortion has been known to have harsh mental effects on would-be mothers, including guilty feelings, anxiety, depression, loss, anger and even suicide. Although Planned Parenthood claims its goals are to promote health for women and families, it remains the largest abortion provider in the nation. Therefore, I believe the Susan G. Komen foundation’s funds could be used much more effectively than awarding an organization whose priorities are shamefully skewed.
Considering that half of Americans oppose abortion rights, according to recent Gallup polls, they have the right to know that Planned Parenthood is spending most of their money in this area. In 2009, 97 percent of Planned Parenthood’s pregnancy-related services were abortions. In this year, 332, 278 abortions were performed, as opposed to only 7,021 clients receiving prenatal care and 977 adoption referrals.
The foundation and its provided abortions have also been ridden by scandal. Videos posted last year by LifeNews.com revealed that Planned Parenthood was offering its services to alleged sex traffickers getting abortions for underage girls.
This controversy encouraged Congressman Cliff Stearns (R-FL) to investigate the organization’s alleged misuse of funds. This led to the Komen Foundation’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood, for new criteria stated that it would not fund any company that is under investigation.
Considering these facts makes an article on the CREDO Action website, which circulated on Facebook, seem utterly unfair in its attacks on Republicans. CREDO Action is the grassroots branch of CREDO Mobile, a cell phone company that supports progressive groups. CREDO claims Stearns’ investigated Planned Parenthood merely because of his political ideology.
“Stearns' investigation, which was challenged by over 100,000 CREDO Action members, was nothing more than a blatant attempt to tie up Planned Parenthood's staff and resources in a politically motivated investigation. And now it is being used by anti-woman activists to go after Planned Parenthood's non-governmental funding.”
To call Stearns and other critics of Planned Parenthood “anti-woman” is completely irrational. Stearns and the members of the Komen foundation were merely trying to protect womens’ health by ensuring the foundation’s funds were going directly to organizations that offer women breast cancer screenings. Planned Parenthood seems to put this important service on the backburner as it is too busy conducting abortions.
CREDO, along with countless other defenders of Planned Parenthood, failed to realize this was not an issue of politics, but of a loss of trust in an organization that was not using its funds correctly.
In fact, the only political pressure there seemed to be was not from “right-wingers,” but from the Left. Only after ceaseless urging from Democrats, including twenty-six Democratic senators and liberally biased coverage from major networks such as ABC, CBS and NBC, did the Komen foundation decide to refund Planned Parenthood.
Despite the Komen foundation’s unfortunate decision reversal, it is still dedicated to protecting women’s health and fighting a well-known disease – and that’s more than I can say for Planned Parenthood.