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There's been a lot of discussion on the net about the Susan G. Koman Foundation's decision to cut ties with Planned Parenthood. Short version: SGKF executive Karen Handel doesn't like PP so implemented a rule that SGKF would not fund any group under (US) Federal investigation. Given that it's ridiculously easy for majority Congressman to start an investigation, this means PP will be under investigation whenever the Republicans control one of the houses. Doesn't mean that PP is actually doing anything wrong (PP actually maintains multiple funding streams for the specific purpose of keeping the abortion money from touching anything else. They have to do this, it's already US federal law.
Anyway, numerous insiders have reported that the rule was tailored specifically to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Given that they're still funding Penn State (under Federal investigation) we can see what the point is.
And then it blew up in their faces. In three days, Planned Parenthood has taken in more funding then they lost from SGKF. SGKF had to "reverse" their policy and apologize. As StudentActivism.net points out, it's not really a policy decision, it's a PR ass covering, more "We're sorry we got caught" than "You're right, this was a bad policy decision that ultimately hurt more women than it helped". Go ahead and read it - it's a great example of weasel words.
My guess is that they'll quietly retreat to lick their wounds and then simply not fund PP for some other reason.
One thing I haven't read yet in the assorted stories about this mess is the long-range goals of Karen Handel, the Komen Senior VP most likely responsible for this (but the rest of the Board is not blameless, for reasons I'll get into below). Short term, we know she's anti-abortion and she ran for Governor of Georgia (She lost a squeaker in the Republican primary). She took the job at Komen after losing.
On the face of it, this just looks like another right wing loon just trying to screw everyone else. Certainly it is that, but it's more than that too. I think she's going to try again to run for public office, and she wants to use the de-funding of Planned Parenthood as proof of her right-wing ideological purity. She lost the Republican primary by less than 2500 votes. What are the odds that she can pick up that many votes next time in a vote of Republicans in Georgia? In short, I think Karen Handel shit on women's health so she can win an election. That she could screw PP doing it was the icing rather than the cake. Certainly nothing in her past points to any sort of concern towards women's health when it's not self-serving.
Of course, you don't get to be a VP at Komen unless you're right-wing. The founder, Nancy Brinker was a member of the Bush administration. The rest of the board went along with this and did so knowing what they were really attacking. I'm guessing those insiders were opposing members on the board who, regardless of their opinion on abortion, knew this was going to cause a lot of women to die of breast cancer who wouldn't have otherwise. And that is sort of the whole point of the group really.
I don't think Komen as a whole is made up of right-wing ideologues. I suspect that there are more pro-choice people involved with them than anti-abortion people, simply because by-and-large anti-abortion people don't care about women's health and pro-choice people do. The rank-and-file probably hate this decision because they recognize that Planned Parenthood does a lot of good, especially when it comes to breast cancer screening (roughly 16% of their budget, compared to 3% for abortion). I'd love to see a mass exodus of non-executives abandoning Komen (and focusing the awesome level of volunteerism to some other organization that provides similar services).
What really irks me is the dishonesty of the anti-abortion side. If you really cared about preventing abortions, you'd want Planned Parenthood to get more funding. They really are one of the few organizations around that reduce the abortion rate, and they do it through the only ways that have ever worked: Education and birth control.
If the anti-abortions ever got their way and managed to kill Planned Parenthood entirely, the abortion rate would go up, simply because there would be a lot more women out there who knew less about how to prevent pregnancy or had no access to the tools that requires. 3% of PP funding might go to abortions, and 16% might go to cancer screening, but 35% of its funding goes towards contraceptives.
But they're not in it to stop abortions. The point is to punish women for having sex. More to the point, to reestablish traditional gender roles. Women who don't have options are women who take less risks. In this scenario, losing an organization that provides contraceptives and STD treatment in addition to abortion is a feature not a bug. More risk and less options are the point.
If you're interested in charities related to breast cancer (or health in general, regardless of gender), I encourage you to give or volunteer directly to those groups, rather than Komen. Planned Parenthood is a pretty good organization I hear.
Addendum: While researching this post, I looked up the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's relationship to Komen. Their not the same organization, thought they do partner up with each other.
Whether they don't fund PP in Canada because of ideology, or something simpler, like focusing on research rather than screening, I don't know. I will be keeping an eye out.
Anyway, numerous insiders have reported that the rule was tailored specifically to de-fund Planned Parenthood. Given that they're still funding Penn State (under Federal investigation) we can see what the point is.
And then it blew up in their faces. In three days, Planned Parenthood has taken in more funding then they lost from SGKF. SGKF had to "reverse" their policy and apologize. As StudentActivism.net points out, it's not really a policy decision, it's a PR ass covering, more "We're sorry we got caught" than "You're right, this was a bad policy decision that ultimately hurt more women than it helped". Go ahead and read it - it's a great example of weasel words.
My guess is that they'll quietly retreat to lick their wounds and then simply not fund PP for some other reason.
One thing I haven't read yet in the assorted stories about this mess is the long-range goals of Karen Handel, the Komen Senior VP most likely responsible for this (but the rest of the Board is not blameless, for reasons I'll get into below). Short term, we know she's anti-abortion and she ran for Governor of Georgia (She lost a squeaker in the Republican primary). She took the job at Komen after losing.
On the face of it, this just looks like another right wing loon just trying to screw everyone else. Certainly it is that, but it's more than that too. I think she's going to try again to run for public office, and she wants to use the de-funding of Planned Parenthood as proof of her right-wing ideological purity. She lost the Republican primary by less than 2500 votes. What are the odds that she can pick up that many votes next time in a vote of Republicans in Georgia? In short, I think Karen Handel shit on women's health so she can win an election. That she could screw PP doing it was the icing rather than the cake. Certainly nothing in her past points to any sort of concern towards women's health when it's not self-serving.
Of course, you don't get to be a VP at Komen unless you're right-wing. The founder, Nancy Brinker was a member of the Bush administration. The rest of the board went along with this and did so knowing what they were really attacking. I'm guessing those insiders were opposing members on the board who, regardless of their opinion on abortion, knew this was going to cause a lot of women to die of breast cancer who wouldn't have otherwise. And that is sort of the whole point of the group really.
I don't think Komen as a whole is made up of right-wing ideologues. I suspect that there are more pro-choice people involved with them than anti-abortion people, simply because by-and-large anti-abortion people don't care about women's health and pro-choice people do. The rank-and-file probably hate this decision because they recognize that Planned Parenthood does a lot of good, especially when it comes to breast cancer screening (roughly 16% of their budget, compared to 3% for abortion). I'd love to see a mass exodus of non-executives abandoning Komen (and focusing the awesome level of volunteerism to some other organization that provides similar services).
What really irks me is the dishonesty of the anti-abortion side. If you really cared about preventing abortions, you'd want Planned Parenthood to get more funding. They really are one of the few organizations around that reduce the abortion rate, and they do it through the only ways that have ever worked: Education and birth control.
If the anti-abortions ever got their way and managed to kill Planned Parenthood entirely, the abortion rate would go up, simply because there would be a lot more women out there who knew less about how to prevent pregnancy or had no access to the tools that requires. 3% of PP funding might go to abortions, and 16% might go to cancer screening, but 35% of its funding goes towards contraceptives.
But they're not in it to stop abortions. The point is to punish women for having sex. More to the point, to reestablish traditional gender roles. Women who don't have options are women who take less risks. In this scenario, losing an organization that provides contraceptives and STD treatment in addition to abortion is a feature not a bug. More risk and less options are the point.
If you're interested in charities related to breast cancer (or health in general, regardless of gender), I encourage you to give or volunteer directly to those groups, rather than Komen. Planned Parenthood is a pretty good organization I hear.
Addendum: While researching this post, I looked up the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's relationship to Komen. Their not the same organization, thought they do partner up with each other.
"Paul Cantin, director of communications at the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation's central office, says there are no policy links between it and the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Regardless, CBCF doesn't provide any funding to Planned Parenthood in Canada, he said."Source.
Whether they don't fund PP in Canada because of ideology, or something simpler, like focusing on research rather than screening, I don't know. I will be keeping an eye out.
