What could be less political than the fight against breast cancer? Cancer is apolitical and indiscriminant in its impact on our society. No one would dare suggest that Cancer affects conservatives more than liberals or vice versa, yet the Susan G. Komen Foundation just got caught in the cross hairs of the political right and left and may have been severely damaged in the process. Welcome to the new definition of freedom of choice. You can only have it as long as you agree with Nancy Pelosi.
Before we even get into the decision, which led to a reversal, let’s talk about what the Susan G. Komen Foundation does. First, it is the largest source of non-profit funding in the world compiled to stop the spread of cancer, particularly in women. They have donated over $1.9 billion dollars to the prevention of cancer since their inception in 1982. They have been a big part of increasing the 5-year survival rate driven by early detection from 74% in 1982 to 98% today, and there are 2.5 million cancer survivors in the US to attest to those facts. Who could find fault with an organization like this?
Nancy Brinker, the founder and CEO of the Foundation, works at this cause with a pure heart driven by a personal connection to the ravages of cancer. The Foundation is named after Brinker’s sister who died from cancer at age 36 in 1982. Since that time she has been working to do “everything possible to end the shame, pain, fear and hopelessness caused by this disease” as a fulfillment of a promise she made to her dying sister. Who does not admire this woman who has dedicated her life to help others in the name of her sister?
As part of that effort Nancy Brinker has raised the $1.9 billion dollars mentioned above and then must decide how to best invest that money to achieve her goal. If you go to their site, you will find hundreds of organizations and doctors that they partner with especially in the area of research and early detection. Since they do have a finite amount of money, I’m sure there are grant requests that they have to turn down so I’m confident that they are continually reviewing their partnerships to insure that they are investing dollars appropriately and for the best results, which is the elimination of cancer. Along comes Planned Parenthood.
As you might guess, Planned Parenthood has been an often-questioned partner by Komen supporters as is indicated by their site. They do terminate over 300,000 pregnancies a year and at least half of those are on female babies. Planned Parenthood delivers breast examinations but does not actually provide mammograms, which Komen believes is the most effective early detection treatment. Many people who support the women’s health services supplied by Planned Parenthood still resist giving funding because it is difficult to see how those funds don’t also enable them to provide abortions, which they may not favor. Finally, there is some question as to whether abortion actually increases the risk of breast cancer in women. While experts will disagree, Dr. Rachel Wellner, Director of Breast Services NYEE, probably puts in most fairly when she says that, “the possibility of a link may exist.”
The Komen Foundation might decide to move away from a partnership with Planned Parenthood for any of these reasons. That money would not be thrown away or spent on extravagant parties, but would just be reinvested with another partner who shares the goal of eliminating cancer. Who they partner with is their business and I personally think that they have earned the right to make that choice on their own over the last 30 years.
But when that relationship was threatened to be severed last week, the liberal left accused them of yielding to political pressure from the right and proceeded to apply an orchestrated political pressure of their own. Is that not the height of hypocrisy? Unfortunately, Nancy Brinker and the Komen Foundation gave in to the pressure, even after receiving pledges of support by people who favored the decision.
The bottom line is that Nancy Pelosi and her underlings perpetrated a huge injustice on women everywhere last week. She attacked an organization primarily run by women and that fights for women’s health because it didn’t march to her specific tune. She put her concerns above those of all women around the world and, unfortunately, the real loser could be the Komen foundation and women everywhere.
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