I’ve never understood the forces against choice. Not just the choice over when and how and whether we as women have a child or not. Though that does baffle me to my very core. But the forces against choice, freedom, access and rights in general. Why limit and restrict when you can free and grant? Yet here we are, in the year 2012, and we are still fighting a basic fight to be in control of our own bodies, to be granted the full rights, to be free to choose how we live our lives. And to be honest, it pisses me the fuck off. Like when I heard this week that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, the world’s largest breast cancer organization, had bowed to political pressure and pulled its support for Planned Parenthood, it majorly pissed me the fuck off.Komen has given Planned Parenthood about $700,000 in grants each year since 2005, which have funded some 170,000 of the breast exams and 6,400 mammograms. But now, that money has stopped. You can have whatever opinion you want on abortion. I certainly am not some sort of abortion cheerleader, but I also certainly respect the right and choice of any women to decide what happens with her own body. But this isn’t about abortion, because none of the Komen money went toward abortion. It went to what the Komen Foundation is supposed to be about – preventing and curing breast cancer.
Komen’s bullshit answer is it has a new policy where it does not fund organizations being investigated by local, state or federal authorities. And it just so happens that Republican Florida Representative Cliff Stearns has launched an investigation over how Planned Parenthood spends its money. Stearns, it should be noted, is virulently anti-choice and, just for good measure, also super anti-gay. Heck, he even wanted to ban gay adoption. How dare we try to be parents to those babies the women who did what you demanded and decided not to have abortions gave up for adoption!
But for the record, because it bears repeated repeating, only 3 percent – yes, THREE PERCENT – of Planned Parenthood’s patient care goes toward abortion services. The vast majority is contraception (35 percent), STD infection/prevention care (35 percent), cancer screening/prevention (16 percent) and other women’s services (10 percent). In case you’re doing the math, the other 1 percent goes to other services. Also, Congress has already banned the use of federal money for abortions. So while the federal government does provide a large portion of Planned Parenthood’s funding, it is already prohibited from using any of that money for abortion services.
I have been lucky in my life not to need Planned Parenthood services. But I have many friends who have. In fact one in five women in the U.S. has visited a Planned Parenthood health center at least once in her life. The organization helps millions of particularly low-income and minority women who would otherwise have absolutely no access to safe and affordable health care services. These are life-saving services like pap smears, breast exams, STD screenings and more.
So what’s this all about then? If the Komen money goes toward breast cancer screening and the federal dollars are already prohibited from being used for abortions? It’s about attacking women. It’s about denying us the most basic health care rights. It’s about controlling our bodies. It’s about making the choices for us. Well, we can make our own choices. We are in control of our own bodies. We are not political footballs. We are women. And you will now hear us roar. Donate to Planned Parenthood today, tomorrow and as long as it takes. Happy weekend, all.
UPDATE: UPDATE: Indeed, Komen has issued a statement saying it changed its policy prohibiting organizations under investigation from being eligible for its grants. It said “We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.” Given the debacle, this is a clear attempt at damaging fallout from this clearly political decision. While I am happy Komen has made Planned Parenthood eligible again for its grants, I have learned more about the organization that makes me wary of its motivations. Not only did it hire a stridently anti-choice senior vice president for public policy last year and its CEO is a major contributor to Republican political candidates. The good news, Planned Parenthood has received some $3 million in donations since this whole debacle started. The moral of this story? The women and men who support women’s health are legion. And we will not be silenced.
21 comments:
i love how these fuckwad hypocrites who don't want women to have access to reproductive health services - increasingly even birth control - tend to be the same zillionaire assholes who tell the very poor, as Shitt Romney put it, to just suck it up and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps in an obviously rigged system. I mean, not everyone can have a trust fund as a "safety net."
I disagree with the phrasing that Komen "bowed to political pressure". The Komen Foundation under its new Senior VP Karen Handel went looking for a reason to pull its money from Planned Parenthood. They made the choice to politicize health care.
The Atlantic write up
I have defunded Komen and rerouted my donation to Planned Parenthood. It won't make a different to either organization, but it sure made me feel better.
Well said Dorothy.
Really? You don't understand how this is white people attempting to ensure that their "race" contiues? In addition it's a for conservatives to ensure that the poor women socially stratified as a rersult of not only having a growing family, but not having the econmic equality to ensure them a better life. You readlly don't understand the forces against a woman's choice?
Wow , well if it;'s such a mystery to you who can influence your young reader then maube you don't need to be online anymore. This is a call to action and NOT a time for bewilderment.
I always say if you are against abortion do you want to take care of all these babies that people obviously don't want? Probably not. Thanks to the wonderful Catholic Church, abortion is the number one form of birth control in Italy.
Many of our rights as citizens not just as women have been removed and everyone should be out on the streets about that.
Breast cancer is totally linked to meat and dairy consumption. The China Study spells it out.
Actually the current spending levels of SGK for research into breast cancer appears to be about 17%. Donating to Komen is really donating to huge salaries of their executives. I would think there are more efficient breast cancer research organizations to send your money to.
Anonymous said
"The Komen Foundation under its new Senior VP Karen Handel went looking for a reason to pull its money from Planned Parenthood."
Karen Handel? endorsed by Sarah Palin? Nah, say it ain't so. Oh, blerg.
Meanwhile . . . both sides are enjoying a nice bump in fund raising.
As a guy I'm really happy to see men standing with PP. I've been a supporter for many years. Yes, it's about women's health and womens' right to choose, but any man who thinks that doesn't affect us is seriously missing the boat. We are not free when >50% of the population is not free.
As anonymous said, they made a choice to politicize health care - I would say it's even worse than that, because let's face it, health care is political right now - they made a choice to politicize the fight against cancer, because primarily, Komen is a cancer fighting organization. They seem to have forgotten that esp. when they hired Handel. What a shame. I have been more of a supporter of LiveStrong but I did volunteer at a Komen 3-Day and I have walked and supported others who have participated in the Race for the Cure, I'll have to rethink that.
This is just another instance of continued demonization of a progressive organization by the far right. Komen's own DC lobbyist stated to the NY Times that Komen changed its grant rules for the sole purpose of defunding PP. I've been a PP member since 1988, just renewed my membership today and am sorely tempted to go through my wardrobe and accessories and mail every pink ribbon-festooned object I own back to Komen.
Komen attempted to fly this under the radar, and now that the shit has hit the fan, it's wonderful to see the fallout. A number of their national board members are resigning, and several regional chapters are bucking the directive from the top. NYC Mayor Bloomberg stepped up with a $250,000 matching grant offer for PP (A comment on the Times webpage yesterday: "Sometimes the little guy gets it right"). Maybe all this hubbub will finally open some eyes as to exactly how much the right hates women. We'll see.
And kudos to commenter Alan. Would there be more men like you to step forward.
Anonymous said:
"i love how these fuckwad hypocrites who don't want women to have access to reproductive health services - increasingly even birth control - tend to be the same zillionaire assholes who tell the very poor, as Shitt Romney put it, to just suck it up and pull yourselves up by your bootstraps in an obviously rigged system. I mean, not everyone can have a trust fund as a "safety net."
Update! Susan G. Komen Foundation changed its mind, it's policies about Planned Parenthood!!
"Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer," Nancy G. Brinker, founder and CEO of the foundation, said in a statement. "Amending our criteria will ensure that POLITICS HAS NO PLACE IN OUR GRANT PROCESS. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities."
Methinks, SGK may have seen its organization rapidly going down the tubes as to fund raising.
Is it too little too late now? Can we forgive? I have a bad taste in my mouth now.
I realized that my feelings about breast cancer allowed me to be manipulated by SGK. How do pink baseball caps, pink cell phones, pink guns (yes GUNS ), pink plastic everything (plastic: a carcinogenic) do anything but let the consumer feel good.
Goodbye SGK. You showed your colors: not pink but Republican Right Wing Red.
for pink guns see: http://gawker.com/5881982/susan-g-komen-foundation-kicks-off-pr-rehab-by-promoting-pink-handguns
Egghead asked: "Is it too little too late now? Can we forgive? I have a bad taste in my mouth now."
It's understandable. What this uproar did was to shine a bright and unflattering light on the full scope of Komen's operations--as BeeBee noted, the pink guns and other paraphernalia, not to mention the relatively small percentage of the foundation's income that goes to research as opposed to administration, salaries, lobbyists and lawyers to sue any organization that uses the phrase "for the cure" in fundraising.
People will now think twice before writing the check. Frankly I don't care about Komen's reversal--I've increased my contributions to Planned Parenthood and will instead give to the breast care center where I have my annual mammograms and where I received genetic counseling (Both my parents died of breast cancer--yes, men can get it too).
Pure politics, especially in light of the fact that they did NOT defund Penn State (which is under criminal investigation).
it's also brought to light Komen's habit of suing other charities and the horrid percentage of funding that goes to actual research/prevention.
they won't here from me till they drop the politics, stop suing other charities and push the money where people are expecting it go.
Actually that's appalling. If Federal money can't pay for abortion services, where does the money for these services come from?!@#$%
Last I checked, abortion was still legal in the US.
I would just like to point out that breast exams are standard with every pap smear exam so that's nothing the SGK money was actually covering and two, Planned Parenthood does not offer mammograms. They refer patients to where they can get them, so really, that $700,000 was going into thin air....there are better organizations to support, than Planned Parenthood and SGK that do much more to actually provide services to women who need mammograms and treatment. My own small community hospital offers free mammograms once a year to women in need.
http://www.getreligion.org/2012/02/media-genuflects-before-church-of-planned-parenthood/
Hey Snarker and all,
this is quite off-topic and maybe old news but I decided to share anyway. For all the Rizzoli & Isles fans, here is some info about season 3...
http://www.tvguide.com/News/Rizzoli-Isles-Season-Finale-1041104.aspx
Some people evidently view "The Handmaid's Tale" as a how-to manual.
I've done the 3-Day in the past and was already registered to do the San Diego 3-Day this year. Thanks to all the new info I've decided my time and donations go to Planned Parenthood from now on.
(Planned Parenthood could never have a Walk for a fundraiser because they'd need to have armed guards protecting the walkers from the bat shit crazy anti choice nuts.)
Been looking around and reading reading reading. The Dr Susan Love Research Foundation is looking for the cause of breast cancer . . . and the Army of Women seems like a substantive way to step up and help find a way to stop it before it starts. http://www.dslrf.org/army/
Post a Comment