The Susan G. Komen foundation has ended its partnership with Planned Parenthood after being subject to intense pressure from right-wing, anti-choice activist groups. Previously, SGK provided grants to Planned Parenthood, so that low-income women could have free breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood facilities.
Susan G. Komen maintains that they withdrew their funding because Planned Parenthood is under investigation by US Congress–an action spearheaded by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., who was encouraged by anti-choice activists to determine whether federal funding to Planned Parenthood was used for abortion services.
I say Susan G. Komen has a lot of explaining to do and their excuse is a paltry run-around of the issue. It is admirable that Susan G. Komen has long been the leading voice for breast cancer awareness but this action betrays the very population they are supposed to be protecting: women. Breast cancer screening should not be a right reserved for the privileged or those who subscribe to the right ideologies; it is a matter of life and death. For many women, Planned Parenthood is the only organization that they can turn to for help, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Yes, Planned Parenthood supports a woman’s right to choose, but the scope of the services they provide extends far beyond abortions to simple matters of reproductive health and eduction. When Susan G. Komen pulled funding from Planned Parenthood, they sent a message to women saying that their mission to cure cancer was conditional. It’s deplorable that Susan G. Komen would bow to the bullying of groups whose values stand in direct violation of women’s reproductive health and turn their backs on the women who need them most.
