Due to the devastating impact that breast cancer has on women and their families, millions of pro-life citizens interested in fighting this deadly disease often helped raise funding for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, without being aware of their long-standing policy of explicitly allowing its state affiliates to give grants to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Since 2007, Bioethics Defense Fund has sought to raise awareness of the Komen-Planned Parenthood link via a Fact Sheet available on their website. In an October 2010 interview with the Daily Caller, Komen spokesperson finally admitted that that Komen did indeed authorize donations to Planned Parenthood. He reported that Komen affiliates had given grants totaling $731,303 in FY 2009 and a total of $3.3 million from FY 2004-2009.
Today, the Associated Press reports and Planned Parenthood’s website confirms that Komen has adopted new polcies that halt all grants to Planned Parenthood clinics. Komen’s sudden defunding of Planned Parenthood is a culmination of efforts by many pro-life organizations and individuals over the years who saw that Planned Parenthood was exploiting citizen’s concern about breast cancer to gain Komen funding to underwrite abortion. BDF attorney Dorinda Bordlee’s review of the Planned Parenthood annual reports confirmed that as the Komen grants continued to pour in, the number of breast screenings performed at Planned Parenthood clinics decreased, while the numbers of abortions performed increased.
“Komen has finally defunded Planned Parenthood, and now it’s Congress’s turn to defund Planned Parenthood,” said Bordlee. “It is an insult to tell the American public that women should seek breast cancer prevention care in abortion centers where the doctor doesn’t even know your name. Low-income women are able to access health services provided at public hospitals and clinics as well as by faith-based community health centers. Planned Parenthood is in the business of elective abortion, not healthcare; public dollars and Komen research dollars are much better spent elsewhere.” BDF commends Komen for finally breaking this unethical and unnecessary tie with the nation’s largest abortion provider.
More information on the Komen-Planned Parenthood link can be found at www.BDFund.org/breastcancer.