Don’t Cry for Komen’s Break With Planned Parenthood

Don’t Cry for Komen’s Break With Planned Parenthood

via Commentary Magazine by Bethany Mandel on 2/2/12

Earlier this week, the Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it would no longer be providing funding for organizations under investigation by governmental agencies. Thanks to this new policy, grants to Planned Parenthood (which totaled $680,000 last year) would cease. Planned Parenthood immediately released a statement calling the decision "deeply disturbing and disappointing" and within the same press release used the news as a fundraising opportunity (it worked – they've raised more than $400,000).
The left immediately went into spin mode, claiming the funds were used for breast screenings and without Komen's grants, women's health would be jeopardized. The funds, they claim, went only towards what they were granted to cover: breast screening and education. Remember the part about Planned Parenthood being under congressional investigation? In part, it's due to charges over misappropriation of funds. Life News goes into detail on the charges:

A congressional committee has taken the first steps in investigating the Planned Parenthood abortion business over abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.

While debates over Planned Parenthood's federal funding were taking place, the organization claimed that without governmental grants, women would no longer have access to "basic family planning, mammograms…" Problem is: Planned Parenthood doesn't provide mammograms. Or advanced breast screenings. The only breast health services Planned Parenthood provides women is teaching them how to do a self-exam at home, and performing that same exam for them in the office. If any abnormality is detected, Planned Parenthood immediately refers their patient elsewhere, as they are unable to provide medical care outside of what a woman could do at home with a basic fact sheet.
The Susan G. Komen Foundation was founded by Nancy Brinker, who named the Foundation in honor of her sister who died of breast cancer. The Foundation "works to end breast cancer in the U.S. and throughout the world through ground-breaking research, community health outreach, advocacy and programs in more than 50 countries with a special focus on low-resource and developing nations."
With the freeing up of funds from an organization who do next to nothing for breast health, the Komen Foundation will now be free to use these resources to bankroll organizations who provide wide-ranging breast services for women around the world. For those who are upset that Planned Parenthood will no longer have this grant opportunity, they are free to donate to Planned Parenthood directly (and they are). Given the fact that Planned Parenthood is actually a profitable business (netting $18.5 million last year), if women's health is truly their top priority, it won't suffer without Komen.