Susan G. Komen Foundation defunds Planned Parenthood-immediately regrets their decision

By: Brooklyn Middleton/Columnist

The Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation’s short-lived decision to end its partnership with Planned Parenthood is illustrative of the common American phenomenon of politicizing women’s health in the name of ideology.

Despite the fact that several days following a social media lambasting of the organization, Komen issued a press release stating it would reverse its new policy so that it would continue to fund Planned Parenthood. The original move  is unforgivable, and its reversal is insufficient without the immediate firing of the woman who created this controversy.

The totally unnecessary move to cut funding to Planned Parenthood would have resulted in an annual loss of approximately  $600,000 to the organization.

It should be clearly noted that the Komen grant money never paid for abortion services or even contraceptive services; the money was solely used for cancer prevention.

Not only was this move wholly incompatible with Komen’s commitment to comprehensive breast care for women of all demographics, but it could have directly affected a particularly vulnerable minority of women who rely on the hundreds of Planned Parenthood clinics across the United States.

As with the cutting of almost all social services, young women, college students, and older women who do not have health insurance, would have been most affected by the cuts.

Despite the move being camouflaged in jargon that made for better press releases, and despite the fact Komen maintains the decision was inherently non-political, all facts prove the move was indeed ideological.

The woman behind the attack on Planned Parenthood is Karen Handel, Komen’s new senior vice president for public policy.

In what was a gross capitalization on a health initiative for political momentum and personal beliefs, the anti-choice, anti-planned parenthood former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia introduced a new company rule that singled out Planned Parenthood.

Handel and her board introduced a new “no-investigations” rule for organizations that Komen funds, meaning that if an orginization was being investigated by authorities, it was barred from receiving Komen money.

In what is a hijacking of health care for political purposes, Planned Parenthood is being investigated by Florida Representative Cliff Stearns, whose inquiry’s stated focus is to ensure no public funds were used for abortion services.

The move was intelligent, strategic and effective. Under a vague rule,  a political agenda could be hidden. Knowing Planned Parenthood is regularly investigated by political adversaries, Handel and associates knew the enactment of the new rule would exclude Planned Parenthood from crucial dollars.

Handel herself has not given a comment on the ordeal. She did, however, retweet and quickly delete this, “just like a pro-abortion group to turn a cancer orgs decision into a political bomb to throw. Cry me a freaking river.”

Unprofessional and insensitive, Handel just outed herself as being wholly guilty of putting her own politics first and women’s health and Komen’s mission second.

If not for the public relations nightmare Handel created, obviously forgetting screen shots live on infinitely, Handel should be fired for her incapability of separating her own ideological agenda from her work.

In short, Handel cares more about politicking then about preventing breast cancer.

In a video press release to try to quell the controversy and, as she called them, “scurrilous accusations,” the company’s CEO Nancy Brinker  stated that  the foundation “will never turn our backs on the women who need us the most.”

She is talking in the future tense, but Komen already did turn their backs on the women who needed them the most the second they even considered defunding Planned Parenthood, and the thing about turning your back on someone is that it’s nearly impossible to ever get them to see eye to eye with you again.

It is obviously unfortunate that women’s health organizations in the U.S. constantly have to be on the defensive against calculating politicians and anti-choice fanatics.

But, its particularly egregious that an organization would enact a policy that in practice is quite possibly the exact antithesis of its own mission statement.

It is victorious that social media and public  outcry proved brilliant and caused Komen to reverse its new rule; however, the mere fact that the organization allowed partisanship to overshadow its core mission, even for a fleeting moment, is reprehensible.

The reversal should only be viewed as a partial victory; the public must demand, for the sake of competency and restoration of the credibility and non-partisanship Komen claims to have, that Handel is fired immediately.

 

Email at brooklyn.middleton@fiusm.com