Pro-Life Senators Slammed for Alliance With 'Race for the Cure'

The pro-life record of Wyoming's two Republican U.S. senators is being questioned following their strong support for the Susan G. Komen Foundation's "Race for the Cure" in their home state. Sens. Craig Thomas and Mike Enzi routinely vote on the side of pro-life causes, but their alliance with the Komen Foundation's Wyoming affiliate exists despite the fact that Komen hands part of the money it raises over to local chapters of the pro-abortion Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Planned Parenthood clinics provide breast cancer screening and education, but the organization is the nation's top abortion provider.

Both senators' conservative credentials are reflected in the ratings they receive from such organizations as the conservative National Right to Life Committee, which awards Enzi and Thomas top ratings of 100, and the liberal Planned Parenthood Action Fund, which gives them both the lowest possible score of 0. While Enzi has been a long and vocal supporter of breast cancer research and the Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, Thomas' ties with that organization run even deeper since his wife, Susan, was a co-founder of the Komen Wyoming Race for the Cure in 1996 and has been involved with the annual event ever since. According to its website, the Komen Foundation works "through a network of U.S. and international affiliates and events like the Komen Race for the Cure ... to eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by funding research grants and supporting education, screening and treatment projects in communities around the world."

One of the foundation's more than 100 affiliates is its Wyoming chapter, which was established in 1996. "Wyoming has a long tradition of neighbor helping neighbor, and the Komen Wyoming Race for the Cure is no exception," the affiliate's website states. "Donations granted on behalf of the organization fund breast cancer awareness, education and detection programs. "Seventy-five percent of net proceeds raised stay in Wyoming," the statement adds, then notes that in 2004, "the organization granted over $230,000 throughout the state of Wyoming to fight this disease." A search of the Komen Foundation site shows that the Wyoming affiliate made 40 grants from 2000 to 2004, including funding for breast cancer screening and education to Planned Parenthood of Wyoming in 2000 and 2002, as well as Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains in 2003.

'I don't know anything about that'

When asked by Cybercast News Service about grants that the Komen Foundation's Wyoming affiliate awarded to the local Planned Parenthood chapters, Thomas replied: "That's not the case." After being told that the Komen Foundation's own website showed the awarding of such grants, Thomas amended his reply. "I don't know anything about that," he said. An e-mail containing links to the grants to Planned Parenthood was sent to Coy Knobel, Enzi's press secretary. "I see the information you have provided," Knobel replied via e-mail, "and the Enzis' response is that the Komen Foundation and Race for the Cure have saved thousands of lives, both men and women. It's important to look at the good that the organization has done and is doing.

"Sen. Enzi remains a strong voice for life in the Senate," Knobel said. "He and his wife Diana would encourage the Komen Foundation to continue to make certain that all of the funds it raises to fight breast cancer are used exclusively for that purpose." Rebecca Gibson, a spokesperson for the Komen Foundation, told Cybercast News Service in February that the foundation and its affiliates "do not provide any funding for abortions or for any activities outside the scope of our mission. In addition, "some Komen affiliates provide restricted grants to local Planned Parenthood clinics to provide vital breast health services for underserved women in their communities," Gibson stated. "In order to monitor their progress, grantees are required to provide detailed reports to the funding affiliate at least twice per year."

However, as Cybercast News Service previously reported, a former advisor to the Komen Foundation who quit over its connection to Planned Parenthood, said that the arrangement between the organizations still makes abortion more accessible because "the money is fungible. "If you relieve pressure on one side, that means they can use more money on the other side for abortions," Eve Sanchez Silver said. "It's not separate, and people need to know that. You cannot kill people in one room and do breast services in another and somehow think that's a balance."

'Cut this link'

Jim Sedlak, executive director of STOPP International, told Cybercast News Service he thought Thomas and Ezri should convey a simple message to the Komen Foundation: "You ought to stop giving to Planned Parenthood, and we're not going to give you any more money or support your cause until you cut this link." Sedlak was quick to point out that he and his organization are not against the battle to prevent breast cancer. "My own mother died of the disease, so I certainly would never be against somebody truly fighting breast cancer," he said, but Komen's donations to Planned Parenthood, he added, do not fit the group's mission. "Aborting a child before there's a complete pregnancy, one of at least 32 weeks, can cause a woman to develop breast cancer," Sedlak stated.

While stating that officials like Enzi and Thomas understand Planned Parenthood's connection with abortion, Sedlak said "they don't really understand its connection with cancer. Either that, or they're denying it." Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, said she also hoped Thomas and Enzi would be guided in their dealings with the Komen Foundation by the relationship between abortion and cancer. "Medical experts recognize that increased childbearing, starting before 24 years of age, and increased breastfeeding offer women the best means of protecting themselves against breast cancer," Malec said. "Komen has an obligation to distance itself from the producers of carcinogens instead of forming business relationships with them," she stated. "Komen is obligated to finger Planned Parenthood for contributing to the nation's out-of-control breast cancer rates by depriving women of their best chance to prevent the disease by having children.

Malec alleged that the Komen Foundation had developed a "Faustian relationship with Planned Parenthood," which she said "doesn't make sense unless you realize it's a good business decision" for the foundation. "Today's abortion customer is likely to be tomorrow's cancer walker. "If women's lives mattered (to groups like Komen), then cancer walk businesses would have focused on disease prevention and denounced abortion and Planned Parenthood two or three decades ago," she said

The race goes on

Despite the criticism from pro-life activists, the Komen Foundation continues to raise money through its Race for the Cure, the largest series of 5K runs/fitness walks in the world. Now in their 22nd season, the races have raised more than $453 million since 1984. More than a million participants are expected to take part in the 2005 events by walking over 3.7 million miles. One of the largest events will be the 16th Annual Komen National Race for the Cure on Saturday, June 4 in Washington, D.C. Back in Wyoming, the state's 10th anniversary Race for the Cure will take place on Aug. 20 in Cheyenne, and Susan Thomas, the senator's wife, is scheduled to help kick off the event.

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