[the invisib1e hand]

This is the second sign I've seen in recent times that sanity is attempting to return. Must be obama-fatigue.

[the invisib1e hand]

...Conservative complaints about media bias are sometimes overdrawn. But on the abortion issue, the press’s prejudices are often absolute, its biases blatant and its blinders impenetrable. In many newsrooms and television studios across the country, Planned Parenthood is regarded as the equivalent of, well, the Komen foundation: an apolitical, high-minded and humanitarian institution whose work no rational person — and certainly no self-respecting woman — could possibly question or oppose.

But of course millions of Americans — including, yes, millions of American women — do oppose Planned Parenthood. They oppose the 300,000-plus abortions it performs every year (making it the largest abortion provider in the country), and they oppose its tireless opposition to even modest limits on abortion.

It’s true that abortion is only one of the services Planned Parenthood provides. (Although mammograms, it should be noted, are not necessarily among them: the group usually provides referrals, but not the mammogram itself, which is one of the reasons Komen’s founder had cited for discontinuing the grant.) But abortion is hardly an itty-bitty and purely tangential aspect of its mission, as many credulous journalists have implied.

Planned Parenthood likes to claim that abortion accounts for just 3 percent of its services, for instance, and this statistic has been endlessly recycled in the press. But the percentage of the group’s clients who received an abortion is probably closer to 1 in 10, and Planned Parenthood’s critics have estimated, plausibly, that between 30 and 40 percent of its health center revenue is from abortion.

By way of comparison, the organization also refers pregnant women for adoption. In 2010, this happened 841 times, against 329,445 abortions.

For the minority of Americans who have no moral qualms about using surgery or chemicals to put an end to a growing embryo or fetus, there should be nothing troubling in these numbers. And if you think abortion rights are more important to female health and flourishing than the nearly $2 billion the pink ribbon has raised for breast cancer research, Komen deserved your scorn and Planned Parenthood deserves your donations.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg just pledged $250,000 to Planned Parenthood; that’s obviously his right. Before Komen backtracked, the Yale School of Public Health said its invitation to Brinker to speak at commencement was “under careful review”; that’s certainly any school’s prerogative.

But reporters have different obligations. Even if some forms of partiality are inevitable, journalists betray their calling when they simply ignore self-evident truths about a story.

Three truths, in particular, should be obvious to everyone reporting on the Komen-Planned Parenthood controversy. First, that the fight against breast cancer is unifying and completely uncontroversial, while the provision of abortion may be the most polarizing issue in the United States today. Second, that it’s no more “political” to disassociate oneself from the nation’s largest abortion provider than it is to associate with it in the first place. Third, that for every American who greeted Komen’s shift with “anger and outrage” (as Andrea Mitchell put it), there was probably an American who was relieved and gratified.

Indeed, that sense of relief was quantifiable: the day after the controversy broke, Komen reported that its daily donations had risen dramatically.

But of course, you wouldn’t know that from most of the media coverage. After all, the people making those donations don’t exist.

[the invisib1e hand]

I think, too, Americans are waking up to the fact that Planned Parenthood has nazi dna. I just wonder if it’s too late.

[don-o]

mark

[Clintonfatigued]

Most Americans oppose most abortions in most circumstances. They only support it under dire conditions, like if the mother were impregnated during the commission of a sex crime or in the case of a grevious medical emergency. The media has used polls with selective wording to produce misleading results. It’s an example of clients paying a polster to lie to them.

[RetiredTexasVet]

I will not give a dime to Komen. PP is using a money laudering game to fund its abortion operations. Since it can’t use Federal money to fund abortions, it takes private donations, including Komen’s money, and uses it for abortions. It then takes a like amount of Federal money and uses it for its limited breast screenings, counseling (including abortion counseling), etc. When you give money to Komen you are NOT told that you will be funding PP. Per their literature, it will go for breast cancer RESEARCH. I assume the same is true for other private funds transferring money to PP.

[fella]

This is in the Slimes? The editors must be away for the game.

[narses]

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[LucianOfSamasota]

If you go to the actual poll, the results are not as encouraging as the article states.

http://www.gallup.com/poll/1576/abortion.aspx#1

2011 Jul 15-17:
Legal under any circumstances 26%
Legal under most circumstances 13%
Legal only in a few circumstances 38%
Illegal in all circumstances 20%
No opinion 4%

While it is absurd to determine morality through polls, these numbers do not look overtly pro-life to me, and they are more in favor of abortion than the previous 2 polls.

I presume the 101% tally is due to rounding errors - or they could have instituted a Democrat polling system! ;P

[fella]

A simi-famous guy ounce said something like this . . . “when the choice comes down to Life or Death . . . Chose Life.

[Elvina]

This Komen thing separated the wheat from the chaff on Facebook. I was shocked to find out which of my friends and relatives are pro-death. Then I was pleasantly surprised about a few who posted pro-life. Then came disappointment from the many who said nothing, when I know those are probably the silent pro-lifers. I stuck my neck out with a few of my relatives, violating the don't discuss religion and politics rule.

So sad to find out my cousin's college-aged daughter actually attended a Planned Parenthood leadership conference this past weekend in Ann Arbor. I mean how does one get that far off? She was proud to report that PP raised 3 million this past week as a result of the well-orchestrated "controversy". So they replaced the Komen grant many times over and then got the grant back anyway.

[EternalVigilance]

There is only one way back for America:

http://www.equalprotectionforposterity.com/index.html