Molly Dragiewicz explains the war on victims of domestic violence. The Florida primary escalates the anti-choice rhetoric, and Susan G. Komen steps in it big time, giving pro-choicers a huge moral victory.
"Keep politics out of women's health" is a sentiment we have heard a lot regarding the Komen debacle. But isn't it always political? Perhaps even always religious?
ThinkProgress reports that Ari Fleischman, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, was secretly involved as early as last fall in planning Komen's break with Planned Parenthood.
The distinction between church and other institutions is a fair one. Churches are primarily for those of that particular faith. But universities and hospitals exist for a wider public. If they do not require their employees to practice their religious faith, they should not expect those employees to live their private lives by the standards of that faith.
I am a recent member of Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s Young Women’s National Advisory Council, a previous director of Stony Brook University School of Medicine’s chapter of Medical Students for Choice, and a future family medicine physician. I was incredibly disappointed by Susan G. Komen’s recent decision to end its funding of breast health programs at Planned Parenthood affiliates across the United States.
The Komen Foundation’s statement says that it “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.” But this is NOT a reversal of any kind.
I'd like to dissect how Komen for the Cure completely destroyed a brand 3 decades in the making and how they're now a different organization with a different future (if they even have one), whether they like it or not. My goal here is to help people understand this so you don't make the same mistakes.
While a reversal of the decision is welcome, it also raises further questions. Komen denied yesterday that the de-funding had anything to do with investigations, even though their original memo said just that. Instead they claimed that the decision was based on "new metrics" and the desire to do "direct service" grants. Now, however, they are back to the "investigations" reason. And, Planned Parenthood can "apply" for future grants but who knows what that means now?
It seems that the Susan G. Komen Foundation did not think very carefully when making the decision to cut off breast cancer prevention grants to Planned Parenthood clinics. And Komen is becoming increasingly isolated as outrage grows.
