New and Breaking News in February 2012!

Late in the week of Febuaray 1, 2012... Komen Breast Cancer Foundation announced they were stopping the funding of Planned Parenthood.

By February 3rd they'd bowed to the pressure of the abortion giant Planned Parenthood and Komen apologized to the public and stated they in fact would restore funding to Planned parenthood.

Breast Cancer research is critical, but donating to the largest abortion provider in the United States is not helping to prevent breast cancer.  In fact, with all the evidence and links between breast cancer and abortion, it's actually taking money people donate to help and it help to create more and more breast cancer!

 

Komen apologizes for ‘recent decisions,’ pledges to
continue funding Planned Parenthood.

 

Hat tip:

  By   Tom Benning / Reporter   10:01 AM on Fri., Feb. 3, 2012  

UPDATE, 12:32 p.m. Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood, said during a Friday conference call that her understanding of Komen's announcement is that it's a complete reversal of the decision to bar funding to her group.

"It's quite clear that Planned Parenthood and our health centers and our doctors are eligible now to work with Komen foundation again," Richards said, before adding that she hasn't actually talked to Komen leaders about the decision. "I certainly take them at their word."

Richards said she was "grateful" for Komen's decision and that the experience from the last few days could strengthen the relationship between the two groups, particularly at the community affiliate level.

But while Komen has said repeatedly the funding decision wasn't politically motivated, Richards said she believed "the Komen foundation has been the target of political bullying."

"Today sends an important message about those kinds of tactics," Richards said.

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UPDATE, 10:44 a.m. Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards just released a statement praising Komen for "clarifying" its grant process, saying "we look forward to continuing our partnership with Komen partners, leaders and volunteers." Click here for more.

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Komen for the Cure just released the following statement from Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Komen Board of Directors:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women's lives.

The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. 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.

It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics - anyone's politics.

Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public's understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.

We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.

 

Breast Cancer Research Giant Funds Planned Parenthood

By Bradley Mattes  

Do you think it odd that the largest private funding source for breast cancer research is giving sizeable grants to entities whose activities actually cause breast cancer? You aren't the only one, but that's exactly what is happening. 

First, some background information on this monolithic fundraising organization. The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1982 by Nancy Goodman Brinker after losing her sister, Susan Komen, to breast cancer. According to their latest annual report, the Foundation and its affiliates have raised, in sum, over $300 million and have made more than 600 grants totaling over $70 million.

The key to Komen's financial success has been its annual Race For the Cure, a 5K run/fitness walk, which began as a

single event in Dallas in 1983 and has grown to over 100 races with over one million participants. The 2000 event raised $83 million, which represented sixty-three percent of Komen's total gross revenue. 

Komen has a network of over 70,000 volunteers and 100 staff members. They have affiliate groups in more than 110 cities in the United States and have a presence in Italy, Germany and Greece. Local affiliates keep up to seventy-five percent of the funds they raise. A minimum of twenty-five percent is given to the national headquarters. 

Most people are familiar with the Race For the Cure and have a positive impression of the organization. Many prolifers have themselves participated in one or more of the races. The Komen Foundation's mission is indeed noble. They want to "eradicate breast cancer as a life-threatening disease by advancing research, education screening and treatment." However, there is a darker side to the Komen Foundation that many are just now becoming aware of.

 Several affiliates of the Komen Foundation have given grants to Planned Parenthood, the largest single promoter and provider of abortion in America. In Denver, for example, not only did they give nearly $200,000 to Planned
Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains, they awarded over $18,000 to the Boulder Valley Women's Health Center, a notorious, late-term abortion clinic.

 Komen grants to the abortion industry are usually categorized as funding for education or screening. They make a good faith effort to see that the funds are used for the designated purpose. However, this is no guarantee against commingling of funds with abortion services. 

The irony of affiliates of the largest, private funding source for breast cancer research giving grants to Planned Parenthood should escape no one. Twentyeight out of thirty-seven worldwide studies have independently linked abortion with breast cancer. Seven studies report a more than twofold-increased risk.

Joel Brind, Ph.D., is a professor of biology and endocrinology at Baruch College of the City University of New York and the leading expert in the abortion/breast cancer connection. When we apply his calculations to Planned Parenthood, we come up with the following grim estimation. Since 1977, Planned Parenthood has performed over three million abortions. Sound medical research indicates that they may be responsible for 22,500 additional deaths of women due to breast cancer as a result of their abortions.  

Why is Komen funding one of the root causes of breast cancer? The answer may lie with its founder. Nancy Goodman Brinker has strong ties to the Planned Parenthood of Dallas and Northeast Texas affiliate. She currently sits on their Advisory Council and was the 1996 recipient of the Gertrude Shelburne Humanitarian Award. This award was named for the woman who was primarily responsible for founding this local Planned Parenthood organization. It is a sad case of political philosophy taking precedence over the fundamental mission of the Komen Foundation – with tragic results for the women they strive to protect.

 Call to Action

 First, do research to find out if your local Komen affiliate is indeed funding Planned Parenthood or another entity of the abortion industry. If a women's health clinic is listed, check to see if they perform or refer for abortions.

 Second, if your local affiliate has a connection to the abortion industry, meet with those in charge. Calmly and rationally share the medical research that demonstrates a link between abortion and breast cancer. Here is an Internet link that will provide you with documentation: www.abortionbreastcancer.com. Also explain the extent to which Planned Parenthood is involved with abortion. The following link will connect you to PP's latest statistics on abortion: www.all.org/stopp/rr0204.pdf.

 Ask for a firm commitment, preferably in writing, that Planned Parenthood or any entity of the abortion industry will no longer be a beneficiary of their funds. If they agree, thank them and urge people to continue to support the pos- itive things the Komen Foundation does. If they refuse to separate themselves from the abortion industry, there are steps you can take.

 In the same calm and rational fashion, meet with the local sponsors of the Run For the Cure race and ask them to withdraw their support. Also begin notifying the pro-lifers in your community by writing an article in your local pro-life publication, listing those sponsors who have refused to withdraw their support. Distribute the information to pro-life churches and organizations. Write letters to the editor and consider taking out a newspaper ad in the weeks prior to the event. If you have a sympathetic local newspaper, ask them to write an article. The controversy and media attention this generates will help educate the public to the link between abortion and breast cancer, while exposing Planned Parenthood's aggressive role in the abortion industry, at the expense of women's health. 

Published in October 2002 Issue of Life Issues Connector, Life Issues Institute, Inc.

Dr. J.C. Willke, MD

Bishop of Toledo Bans Parishes from Raising Funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation
byBishop Leonard P. Blair

Description: Bishop Leonard Blair, in this letter sent to all priests and parishes in the 19-county Toledo diocese, banned parishes and parochial schools from raising funds for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, citing concerns that the global anti-cancer giant may someday fund embryonic stem-cell research

Larger Work: Toledo Blade

Publisher & Date: The Toledo Blade Company, July 5, 2011


Dear Friends in Christ,

Few of us remain untouched by the scourge of breast cancer. Whether among our families, friends or neighbors, there are a great many women in our country who confront this disease every day with tremendous faith and courage.

Researchers, physicians and medical personnel, using their God-given intelligence and skill, work very hard not only to provide healing of those who are afflicted, but also to find a cure. We are all familiar with the mobilization of effort in our country on behalf of this worthy goal.

One of the most widely known initiatives is that of the Susan G. Komen Foundation. Many people participate in efforts to raise funds for this cause, including some of our Catholic institutions and schools.

While we want to do everything possible to support the search for a cure, sadly the landscape of medical research today is sometimes marred by the erroneous belief that research is not bound by moral norms rooted in faith and reason, as reflected in the teaching of the Church. That teaching holds, for example, that it is not morally acceptable to destroy one human life, even in its embryonic stage, in order to save another human life.

For some time, moral questions have been raised from various quarters about the research funded by the Komen Foundation. The Bishops of Ohio have discussed this and have looked into the matter. As best we can determine, at present the Komen Foundation does not fund cancer research that employs embryonic stem cells. However, their policy does not exclude that possibility. They are open to embryonic stem cell research, and may very well fund such research in the future. They are also contributors to Planned Parenthood, which, though it may claim to provide needed medical services to poor women, is also the largest provider of abortions in our country.

In order to avoid even the possibility of cooperation in morally unacceptable activities, the other Bishops and I believe that it would be wise to find alternatives to Komen for Catholic fundraising efforts.

For that reason, I am directing that in the fight against breast cancer, fundraising carried out under Catholic auspices, including our schools, should be channeled to our locally knownMercy Cancer Centersinstead of Komen.

ThroughMercy, we can help local women who are without financial means to receive specialized care which includes treatment, detection and support in their fight against breast cancer. We can be assured that atMercy, these women will receive a high level of compassionate care that respects their human dignity.
More information will be coming to you fromMercyregarding this opportunity. I thank you for your cooperation and support. Together let us pray for all cancer sufferers, especially those in the greatest physical, spiritual and emotional need.

Sincerely yours in Christ,


Most Reverend Leonard P. Blair
Bishop of Toledo


 Last Updated on Friday, February 03, 2012 03:03 PM