After reports from some pro-life corners claiming Komen affiliates were considering stopping grants to Planned Parenthood, at the same time a local California affiliate gave another grant to the abortion business, Komen has made it appear the grants will continue.
Susan Tyrrell of the pro-life group Bound4Life has been following the claims closely that years of opposition to Komen from pro-life advocates might be able to be put aside.
Although the pro-life group Life Decisions International, which tracks corporations that fund Planned Parenthood, recently said Komen had agreed to stop funding [a statement it has since withdrawn pending further investigation], a local affiliate in Orange County California gave more than $1.5 million in grants to 15 nonprofit organizations on December 2, including Planned Parenthood.
Tyrrell contacted Komen officials about Planned Parenthood grants and received this response:
Komen provides funding for local community health programs through our network of more than 120 affiliates across the United States. Each affiliate is responsible for assessing the breast health service needs—including education, screening, treatment and support—for the residents within its region as well as identifying and providing funding to organizations that can meet those needs. Annually, Komen Affiliates fund programs that provide breast health education and breast screenings for hundreds of thousands of low-income, uninsured, or medically under-served women via nearly 2,000 local organizations, including 19 Planned Parenthood programs.
The decision to fund any breast health and screening program is based on a thorough assessment of a community’s breast health needs and resources. In some areas of the U.S., our affiliates have determined a Planned Parenthood clinic to be the best or only local place where women can receive breast health care.
Twice each year, Komen affiliates conduct a thorough review of their community health grant programs to ensure that funds are being used only for breast health services. Under no circumstances are Komen funds used to fund abortions or other non-breast services, and any service provider shown to violate those rules would be immediately terminated from the Komen grant program.
That’s the verbatim response Komen has given pro-life advocates for months and it leads Tyrrell to conclude that nothing has changed.
“This raises an obvious question based on the most recently publicized funding that followed reports Komen may have stopped. The money Komen gave to Planned Parenthood two days after the alleged stopping of funding was to the abortion provider headquartered in metropolitan area of Orange County, California,” she said. “Is Komen really saying it could not donate money to another women’s health agency in that hugely populated area that could serve women’s breast health without killing babies in the next room? That’s pretty unbelievable.”
“What’s more astounding is that the Orange County Planned Parenthood alone (and Komen has 18 others on the list) had a 2010 total revenue of $31,518.017. It’s hard to grasp with the human mind how an agency with that kind of money coming in can be the place with the greatest need to reach out “low-income, uninsured, or medically under-served women.” Let’s also remember that Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms,” Tyrrell added.
“Money given to Planned Parenthood is fungible. The more money it gets to funnel into its “breast health program”—whatever that is, since it can’t even do mammograms—is more money freed up for its abortion program. You cant give clean money to a dirty organization,” she added. “We hope, we pray, this rumor that Komen will stop donating to Planned Parenthood may prove reality. So far there is no evidence of it, but we will wholeheartedly rejoice if it happens.”
New figures directly from the Komen for the Cure foundation show 18 affiliates of the breast cancer charity gave a total of more than $569,000 to the Planned Parenthood abortion business in 2010.
The new figures come from an American Life League study of Susan G. Komen affiliates’ federal forms 990 and they show 18 Komen affiliates gave $569,159 to Planned Parenthood in 2010, the latest year for which figures are available. That’s down from the $731,303 Komen officials publicly confirmed in October 2010, when they acknowledged that 20 of the 122 Komen affiliates gave to Planned Parenthood during the 2009 fiscal year.
Komen affiliates in Austin, Texas; Central New Mexico; El Paso, Texas; Greater Amarillo, Texas; Los Angeles County, California; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Salt Lake City, Utah stopped giving to the abortion business while affiliates in Dallas County, Texas; Denver, Colorado; North Carolina Triad; North Carolina Triangle; and Puget Sound, Washington all began new relationships with Planned Parenthood.
Another problem for pro-life advocates is the fact that Planned Parenthood is reducing the number of breast cancer screenings while increasing its abortions. According to the 2008 Annual Report from Planned Parenthood, breast cancer services decreased by 4% and abortion procedures increased by 6%.
The Komen spokesman confirmed last year that Komen affiliates contributed about $3.3 million to the abortion business from 2004-2009. That and the longtime ties between Komen and Planned Parenthood have resulted in some backlash from the pro-life community. The Komen annual report reveals Komen brought in almost $22 million less, or 6% less, in 2009 than it made in 2008. That could be a result of the difficult economic times or may also come as a result of pro-life advocates increasingly boycotting Komen.
Even if Komen were to stop giving to Planned Parenthood you still have the problem of them funding embryonic stem cell research. All of the childhood diseases and favorite causes all fund embryonic stem cell research, its a gem to find otherwise.
ReplyDeleteBasically alot of these groups band together, they share money/donations and their dollars go to many of the same research facilities. Al (Kresta) should do a show on this very topic so as to prepare and make wary Catholics of the secular donation traps.
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