Komen ignores women’s health by cutting ties with Planned Parenthood

Kowtowing to political pressure, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has decided to stop all of its affiliations with one of the biggest cancer-screening providers in the country, Planned Parenthood.

By pulling money from the group, Komen is going blindly against what should be their mission — providing all women with preventative measures and treatment of cancer.

In case you forgot, Planned Parenthood has gotten all kinds of right-wing grief because some of their centers provide abortions on some days of the week. During the debt debate, Republican members of Congress blatantly ignored the fact that abortions are not covered by federal funding and one even lied saying that they were 90% of what they do (in reality, abortion makes up about 3% of the organization’s services).

Not only does Planned Parenthood provide a lot of different services, they do so for lower income women who can’t get them elsewhere. And it’s relatively painless. I was without health insurance for a few years after college and used the New York branch for routine care and birth control. It was fairly easy to get an appointment, the staff was welcoming and the doctor was friendly. For a lot of people, this is the only place healthcare is available, and it needs all the support it can get.

Officially, Komen claims the parting of ways is because organizations under investigation cannot receive funds. Of course, this criteria is conveniently newly adopted and the investigation that Planned Parenthood is under is only occurring because of backwards Republican lawmakers — the same ones who wanted to hold up the entire budget debate because they dislike one procedure that federal funds don’t even cover.

Diverting money away from the good things they do because they happen to perform a legal medical procedure that’s politically controversial is hypocritical and misguided at best. Komen will slap a pink ribbon on anything — including fast food and cars, both of which contribute to ill health — and say it’s “for the cure,” but when it comes to doing something that actually helps the women they claim to support, they take the cowardly route and bow down to right-wing, anti-choice bullies. They certainly can’t call it pro-life, since they’re taking money from services that can save women’s lives.

For awhile it has seemed like Komen was paying more attention to pink marketing and “awareness” than actual research compared to other organizations, but this is the final, inexcusable straw. This move flies in the face of what a cancer group should stand for. They should be supporting the people who will help with prevention and treatment, not blacklisting them because of politics.