Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood: Pro-Life People Should be Warned

Life News ^ | 5/24/10 | Hannah Carter

[wagglebee]

LifeNews.com Note: Hannah Carter is the director of education for Georgia Right to Life, a statewide pro-life group. This opinion column originally appeared on the GRTL blog web site.

Like many families, my grandmother and great-grandmother both had breast cancer. The issue of wanting to fight what harms your family or friends is noble. So when I tell people that I do not support Susan G. Komen an organization that exists to “fight breast cancer”, I normally get the look of one: why would you abandon your family or two: oh there goes one of those extremist.

However, my reasons are not that extreme, but rather principled.

I'm sure many of you reading this article have also been confronted with the issue of if I ‘m pro-life then how can I support an organization that supports the nation’s leading abortion provider. Hopefully, the following principles can shed some light on how to respond sympathetically, yet firm with why you cannot wear pink, or join the race, or all the various ways that Susan G. Komen is supported.

Principle # 1 Don't give to organizations that promote the shedding of innocent blood.

If this were a list of commandments, we could start with Thou Shall Not Kill. However, Proverbs 6:17 states that one of the seven things God hates are hands that shed innocent blood.

Unfortunately, Susan G. Komen has given over $3 million dollars between 2003 and 2008 to Planned Parenthood which is the nation’s leading abortion provider.

While Susan G. Komen makes claims that these grants go for breast exams, once the funds go to Planned Parenthood they are fungible. For example, you can throw two twenty dollar bills into a purse one from a friend and one from your own account, but when you go to pay the light bill you use both.

The same is true with Planned Parenthood’s money it receives from Komen. Whenever someone applies for a grant they can say that while this $5,000 is going to breast cancer research, 20 percent of that money is going to pay for administrative costs like keeping the lights on and paying rent. So in essence, the money that people are raising to fight breast cancer is also going to keep the lights on at Planned Parenthood.

According to the 2008 Annual Report from Planned Parenthood, breast cancer services decreased by 4% and abortion procedures increased by 6%. In 2008, Susan G. Komen gave $731,000 to Planned Parenthood.

Principle # 2 Know and Recognize the Risk Factors for the Disease You are Trying to Prevent.

There are certain risks that can increase an individual’s chance of getting breast cancer. While Susan G. Komen says that they believe in knowing your risk factors, they have repeatedly denied the link between breast cancer and one of the greatest avoidable risk factors, abortion.

According to Dr. Angela Lanfranchi, “29 out of 38 worldwide epidemiological studies show an increased risk of breast cancer of approximately 30% among women who have had an abortion.”

When a woman has an abortion she interrupts the natural process of estrogen production and breast development. When a woman first becomes pregnant her body produces a Type 1 carcinogen, cancer causing agent, estrogen in order to nourish and provide for the baby. If the mother has her child, her body stops producing as much estrogen and her breasts mature. However, if that process is interrupted, the estrogen production continues and her breasts stay in an immature state, making them more susceptible to breast cancer.

Groups like Susan G. Komen acknowledge that the level of exposure to estrogen throughout a woman’s lifetime is one of the greatest predictors for breast cancer. Sadly, they do not acknowledge that the increased exposure to estrogen after an abortion could increase risks of breast cancer as well. For an organization whose primary goal is “to have a world without breast cancer”, you would think they would try to let women know of all the risk factors for breast cancer, especially those that are preventable like abortion.

Recently, in an article by Jill Stanek, pro-life author and blogger, asked a very thought-provoking question, “Is it really “morally permissible” to cause breast cancer in one room if screening for it in the next?”

Stanek also noted in her article that recently that the ties between Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen are running deeper and deeper. See an excerpt below from Stanek’s article:

Three days ago a diligent pro-lifer in Washington state discovered on Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest’s IRS 990 forms that it has held a 12.5 percent share in Metro Centre, a mall in Peoria, Ill., since 2006. PPGNW is Washington’s largest abortion provider. (It is also currently under investigation for Medicaid fraud.) Metro Centre is owned by Eric Brinker. Eric Brinker is the son of Nancy Goodman Brinker, the founder of SGK.

Eric also sits on SGK’s board. Eric was a stand-up guy and responded to most of my initial questions. He explained in an e-mail, “This share represents a minority, non-operating interest in the business which they inherited from one of the original shareholders, a resident of Peoria. I, Eric Brinker, have controlling interest in Metro Centre.” But when I pursued follow-up questions, Eric wrote he was no longer available. So there is much still unanswered. Why didn't PPGNW cash in its inheritance? Why didn't Eric buy? If the share was willed, it was worth something. The real-estate market was thriving in 2006. It appears both partners are OK with this now four-year-old business partnership.

In essence, Planned Parenthood and Susan G. Komen’s nephew own a mall together.

The bottom line is that Susan G. Komen is not accomplishing its mission every time it gives to Planned Parenthood.

Every time a woman has an abortion and part of the money to fund that center staying open came from Komen, they are putting women at a greater risk for breast cancer.

Every organization no matter how noble the cause they claim to represent seems to be needs to be held accountable.

The question is will you?

To continue your search for the ties between Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood, please visit:

Susan G. Komen for the Cure Awards 72 Grants to Planned Parenthood

Komen Giving to Planned Parenthood Abortion Biz Down as Donations Drop

Planned Parenthood Deepens Link to Breast Cancer Group

Susan G. Komen’s List of Grants to Planned Parenthood

Studies about the Link between Abortion and Breast Cancer

Report: Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood: A Visible Link

[Eagle Eye]

You haven’t read the Komen statements.

And I even extracted a vital quote and link.

Come back with proof and we’ll talk.

[metmom]

Why don’t I trust the word of someone whose main business it to butcher babies?

Big deal. PP says.....

PP lies.

[BykrBayb]

I guess you would know better than I what I’ve read and what I haven’t read. Did I read today’s mail yet?

[xzins]

If I have only one hundred dollars in my budget to spend on my one, two, and three favorite projects, then I can spend 50 on my favorite and 25 on my 2 and 3 favorite.

If you give me 25 dollars to spend only on my third favorite project, then I can now spend my budget this way: 75 on my favorite and 25 on my 2 and 3 favorite.

I have spent your 25 just as you required, and I have satisfied my budget need for project number 3 to get 25 dollars.

Your gift enable me to shift my money around.

Your statement from Komen cannot speak to the entirety of Planned Parenthood’s budget, because they don’t know what it is. All they know is that their 25 has been spent just as they directed.

In short, they are enabling abortion.

[Eagle Eye]

Why don’t I trust the word of someone whose main business it to butcher babies?

Komen's main business is breast cancer research, etc. not abortion.

Glad to correct you and set you straight...once again.

Try reading Komen's statements and if you question their integrity shouldn't you provide some evidence? Or is rumor good enough for you?

[Eagle Eye]

Try some facts instead of hypotheticals and speculation.

Seems “facts” are poison to y’all!

[BykrBayb]

Xzins did a very good job of explaining a simple economic fact which escapes your understanding. The fact is, Komen funds Planned Parenthood. Both organizations freely admit this. Why can’t you?

[Eagle Eye]

You hadn’t read those statements and didn’t want to admit it.

You probably still haven’t and won’t admit that either.

Like I posted earlier, last year I was shocked when I read that Komen financed abortion so I went to their website and found out that there are a lot of misinformed people who prefer to believe factless rumors instead of substantiated statements.

If you don’t believe their statements then come up with some contradicting documentation. Simple as that.

[xzins]

Those are facts about how a budgeting process works. I’ve been around it all my life. It is, for example, the main argument used against sending any funds to the World Council of Churches by many denominations. They realize that those dollars are designated for certain projects, but they also realize that those dollars “free up” the budgeting process so that other money can be shifted to WCC’s main interests.....spreading liberal social philosophy in the guise of Christianity.

Now, it’s the same with Planned Parenthood. You cannot make any statements about their budgeting process, because you weren’t there. It is a fact that fund shifting takes place when more resources become available.

Now, Komen could settle this easily.

They could simply send their money to another Breast Cancer Researching organization that does not also spend money on abortions.

It’s so simple. It’s such an easy change. It’s obvious.

Makes me wonder why they don’t do it.

[Eagle Eye]

You want to believe what you want to believe. No problem.

Does Komen state if they monitor their grantees?

If so, how often and for what purpose?

[metmom]

Komen's main business is breast cancer research, etc. not abortion.

Then why don't they put their money where it will do some good instead of contributing to a slaughterhouse which actually increases a woman's risk of breast cancer?

Why don't they provide money to places which actually screen women who need it most for breast cancer?

If they claim that their main business is breast cancer research and they're giving that much money to places which increase breast cancer statistics, they're liars.

[MHGinTN]

It would appear that the one to whom you explained that FACT really doesn’t want the truth to surface, and likely doesn’t waqnt to see what you explained so clearly. Democrats claim that taxes are not funding abortions at PP-hood, yet the same calculus you used shows that PP-hood can shift their other privately received funds to pay for abortion business expenses because tax monies are freeing up funds for the evil.

[Eagle Eye]

Makes me wonder why they don’t do it.

They explain it in their statements...which you'd have known if you'd have read them.

But hey, it's so much easier to spout off sanctimoniously out of ignorance, isn't it?

Roman Catholic ethicists have approved what Komen does. Doesn't that make them, in your current view, pro abortion?

Just asking, just trying to keep your logic flowing.

[Eagle Eye]

Another one who criticizes Arizona’s law without reading it.

Oh, I mean criticizes Komen’s practice without reading their statements on it.

[MHGinTN]

You’re rather dense, person. So dense in fact that one suspects a hidden agenda from such purposed ignorance.

[Eagle Eye]

Shout if from the roof tops....I HAVE MY OPINIONS EVEN THOUGH I HAVEN'T GOT A CLUE WHAT KOMEN SAYS ABOUT IT!!!

Komen addresses your questions but if you haven't read their statements on this by now you aren't going to.

Wow...this is like trying to get DUers to actually look at some facts while they are so wrapped up in their feelings that they refuse to look at anything but their own invented positions!

Holy moly...((Face Palm!!))

[xzins]

Yes, and I was among those who castigated Notre Dame University for bestowing honors on Barack Obama. In short, they were honoring a pro-abortionist. Likewise, there are Roman Catholic ethicists who arrive at pro-abortion conclusions....just as they did for Father Hesburgh. And there are Roman Catholics who do many wrong things.

BTW, since I just came to this discussion, why would I have read Komen’s statement about why they don’t give money to a different breast cancer research organization. (Feel free to either summarize it for me or point me to the relevant pages.)

It strikes me that they really should be giving it to a laboratory or medical research organization.

Planned Parenthood really is all about abortion. You don’t deny that fact, do you?

[Eagle Eye]

I was going to ask if you had read Komen’s statements but I know you haven’t.

I may be dense but at least I took the time to read what they have to say about it before I formed an opinion.

You didn’t. You took innuendo and hypothetical situations critical of Komen and formed your opinions before reading their statements.

Do you have evidence that Komen’s statements are incorrect?

Do you have something to disprove the conclusions of the Roman Catholic ethicists who approve Komen’s actions?

[Eagle Eye]

why would I have read Komen’s statement about why they don’t give money to a different breast cancer research organization.

I ass-umed that you'd like to be informed if not fair and balanced.

It is one thing to disagree with what someone or some organization does but imo the wholesale smearing of Komen by socalled prolife freepers is irresponsible.

What really disturbs me is the near absolute refusal of so many posters to even read what Komen says.

To me that is astonishing. It is willful blindness and willfull ignorance.

And in the process, I'm somehow the target. Oh well. Easier to kill the messenger than read the message, eh

I'm sure that you are perfectly capable of googling komen or reading the links I've previously supplied. However... copy and paste

http://ww5.komen.org/Content.aspx?id=16162&terms=planned+parenthood

[xzins]

I appreciate your providing the link, because I’m way out in rural America, and I’m on dial-up. Each page has to load, and to go over the entire thread takes time.

I’ll go look at the material. Which part deals with why Komen MUST use PP and no one else?