Huckleberries Online

Costello: Komen Pays Extortion Money

Posted by DFO

Feb. 11, 2012 12:05 a.m. • 16 comments

So now we celebrate bullies? I can't tell you how many “news” articles I've read in the last week that speculated on whether or not the Susan G. Komen Foundation will be able to repair its reputation after attempting to withdraw $650,000 worth of annual funding that it currently sends to that billion dollar per year abortion mill, the ironically misnamed Planned Parenthood. Considering the heavy handed thuggery that Planned Parenthood and its allies used to reclaim that tiny sliver of their revenue stream, I have to wonder why it is that Planned Parenthood doesn't have a reputation that is in need of restoration. When Susan G. Komen's new leadership decided that it could do more to fight breast cancer with that money than Planned Parenthood could, Planned Parenthood turned its mighty guns on the Komen Foundation and painted its leadership as a cabal of religious extremists. The mainstream news media actually took the lead on this assault/Michael Costello, Lewiston Tribune. More here.

Question: Will Komen Foundation fund-raising efforts be hurt in the near future by the way it handled this controversy, from beginning to end?

16 comments on this post so far. Add yours!

mrd on February 11 at 10:45 a.m.
From those I’ve talked to, yes funding will be hurt in the near future. Planned Parenthood is an excellent organization that gives women much support and honest options for their health care. I think the Komen Foundation made a mistake, but they corrected the error and that will help.
Wes on February 11 at 11:03 a.m.
They need to further purge the executive staff
for any right wingers with a Pro life agenda.
Get back to their primary focus breast cancer.

Vet new managers to ensure no hidden agenda.
New management launch a add run ensuring
no politics just a laser focus on the mission.
hhuseland on February 11 at 2:14 p.m.
They shouldn’t have folded. Planned Parenthood does not do breast examinations and falls outside the Komen purview. Because of that, Komen could be considered as supporting abortion. That isn’t what they raise funds for and shouldn’t have deviated from their stated goals.
hmoffsuite on February 11 at 4:06 p.m.
The Susan Komen organization was created to fight breast cancer and find a cure. The donors to that organization are donating for that purpose. Having their money being spent to provide abortions is wrong. Simply wrong. The foundation had violated its mission statement and the donors, many who are donating because they lost a loved one to the disease. Take a look at some recent statistics on Planned Parenthood. I’m disappointed they reversed their initial decision to withdraw support.

“Planned Parenthood now does 333 abortions for every single adoption referral. Yes, it’s disgusting.”

http://liveaction.org/blog/pps-new-abortion-numbers-going-nowhere-but-up/

I
Wes on February 11 at 4:51 p.m.
homoff, herb, were is your proof the funds
are used for abortions vs breast cancer
screening? I will follow up to confirm.
KCres on February 11 at 4:54 p.m.
The goals of the 2 organizations are very different and Komen should never have been contributing to PP in the first place. I don’t believe that anyone contributed to Komen because they wanted that money to go to PP, they would have contributed to PP directly instead. Komen have shot themselves in the foot, as there will now be many people who agree with Komen’s goals yet who stop contributing to them.
hmoffsuite on February 11 at 5:47 p.m.
Wes >> “homoff, herb, were is your proof the funds
are used for abortions vs breast cancer
screening?”

Your question is meaningless. Even if it could be proven that the Komen money went to breast screening, that would mean that Planned Parenthood wouldn’t have to spend that money, and they would just have more to spend on their abortion business. Komen is about extending and preserving life, not terminating it. They should absolutely go back to their original decision. This decision on their part is going to really hurt the organization.
nic on February 11 at 7:19 p.m.
I love how people hate a group for 3% of the services it provides: http://ilovecharts.tumblr.com/post/16934832910/planned-parenthood-patient-care
nic on February 11 at 7:21 p.m.
Here’s the deal. Komen is in a no-win situation. Damned by the pro-life crowd if they support PP. Damned by the pro-choice if they remove support from PP. Both sides are equally vocal. Both sides are willing to give and withhold donations.
hmoffsuite on February 11 at 7:28 p.m.
nic >>> “love how people hate a group for 3% of the services it provides”

It’s binary, not analog.
Pigrobin on February 11 at 7:59 p.m.
Just so we’re not throwing around empty percentages…3% equals 330,000 abortions provided by Planned Parenthood every year. That’s right, right around ONE MILLION ABORTIONS in a three year period. That 3% sounds a little different when faced with the harsh reality of the true numbers. Or maybe it’s what you would expect. After all, somebody has to provide all those free abortions. No self respect, no responsibility and no self determination. Thank you master government, may I have another.
Phaedrus on February 11 at 8:48 p.m.
Lot’s of made up numbers being thrown around by the facts don’t matter crowd.
Pigrobin on February 11 at 11:40 p.m.
Hey Phaedrus, you’re free to look up the number of abortions Planned Parenthood provides by looking at Planned Parenthood’s annual report. If I’m off, I owe you a beer. Or you can trust me and believe that PP provided 332,278 abortions in 2009. OK, you owe me a beer. Like I said, someone has to provide free abortions, why not them? I WANT MY MTV…and free food, housing, medical, and anything else my government will give me…as long as it’s free!! Thank you master.
nic on February 12 at 7:49 a.m.
“Just so we’re not throwing around empty percentages…3% equals 330,000 abortions provided by Planned Parenthood every year.”

Fair enough. But just so we aren’t throwing around empty percentages, (using the 332,278 figure) …

Planned Parenthood helped a total of 11,075,933 in 2009. Over 11 million.

Of those 11 million, 3,876,576 received STD testing and/or treatments. Another 3.8 million got contraceptives. And 1,772,149 (almost 2 million women) had cancer screening/prevention services performed through PP.

Now, I’m not saying you have to like Planned Parenthood. I’m not happy about them performing abortions either, but if you’re going to criticize them, at least you could be intellectually honest about who they are and what they do. If they’re performing “right around ONE MILLION ABORTIONS in a three year period,” there’s another 32 million women getting help that has NOTHING to do with abortions in that same three year period.
nic on February 12 at 7:54 a.m.
“you’re free to look up the number of abortions Planned Parenthood provides by looking at Planned Parenthood’s annual report. … Or you can trust me and believe that PP provided 332,278 abortions in 2009.”

And if you look at that same annual report, you can see that they performed less abortions in 2010 than they did in 2009. Couldn’t we (instead of condemning PP and fighting against them) work cooperatively to continue reducing that number year after year?
KJJ on February 12 at 9:29 a.m.
Thanks for the perspective Nic.

I’m sad this will hurt Komen. I’m disappointed that it’s about politics and not about women’s health.

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D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.