Komen Caves To Shakedown

Details: 17 February 2012

What a whipsaw of emotion the Susan G. Komen Foundation created with its vacillating decision regarding grants to Planned Parenthood (PP). For years, some of Komen’s state affiliates have provided grants to PP, operator of America’s largest abortion chain.

In large part due to the enormous controversy and ill will that was generated by Komen allowing funding to go to PP, Komen’s leadership apparently tried to find a way to extricate itself from the "culture wars." Komen changed its grant-making criteria such that PP would no longer be eligible for grants.

But Planned Parenthood and its shills in the secular media would have none of that. Both entities unleashed a firestorm that Austin Ruse, president of the Catholic and Human Rights Institute, characterized as "nothing short of a Mafia shakedown campaign."

Mr. Ruse said Planned Parenthood essentially told the Komen Foundation "either give us money or we will destroy you." Princeton professor Robert P. George and Notre Dame professor O. Carter Snead wrote this in a Wall Street Journal editorial:

"Faced with even the tiniest depletion in the massive river of funds Planned Parenthood receives yearly, the behemoth mobilized its enormous cultural, media, financial and political apparatus to attack the Komen Foundation in the press, on TV and through social media.

"The organization’s allies demonized the charity, attempting to depict the nation’s most prominent anti-breast cancer organization as a bedfellow of religious extremists. A Facebook page was set up to ‘Defund the Komen Foundation.’ In short, Planned Parenthood took breast cancer victims as hostages."

Why would PP, which has annual revenues exceeding $1 billion, go to such extremes to attack Komen over losing a relative small amount ($650,000) of its budget? I think the answer is simple.

Planned Parenthood is our nation’s largest abortionist, is the leading opponent to even the most modest (and popular) pro-life laws, and is a purveyor of extremely offensive and dehumanizing "sex education." This puts PP on the radical fringe of society. Hence, it is necessary for PP to link itself to more reputable entities like Komen and to offer non-controversial health services in order to deflect attention and criticism from its wicked activities.

Komen should have never allowed itself to be connected to such a morally bankrupt and controversial organization. And while Komen deserves some credit for trying to extricate itself from PP, unless and until it decides to do so permanently, pro-lifers should cease their support for the organization.

Making a decision to cease support for Komen does not mean ceasing support for programs and research that benefit persons with breast cancer. In Nebraska, for example, four Catholic hospitals sponsor breast cancer-related programs that currently receive funding from Komen’s Nebraska affiliate. Thus, contributors could give directly to these programs instead of going through Komen.

These hospitals/programs are as follows:

Alegent Health Cancer Center (Omaha) - "Image Recovery Center Patient Assistance Fund." This Center helps breast cancer patients manage the serious side effects that accompany the treatment of breast cancer.

Good Samaritan Hospital Foundation (Kearney) - "Breast Health Screening and Testing for Women at High Risk for Breast Cancer." This program provides services to women who don’t meet the age requirements for the Every Woman Matters Program.

Saint Elizabeth Foundation (Lincoln) - "Early Detection in Minority Populations." This project will provide 75 no-cost mammograms for low-income, uninsured or underinsured women who do not qualify for the State of Nebraska’s Every Woman Matters Program.

Saint Francis Medical Center (Grand Island) - "The Outreach Risk Awareness Project" This project seeks to increase breast cancer awareness of patient risk, diagnosis and treatment for minority and low-income women with the use of kiosks, breast models and other education materials.

Please pray for Nancy Brinker and her colleagues at Komen. And send the following message to her at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.: "I am gravely disappointed that Planned Parenthood will again be eligible for grants from Komen. Please work to concentrate your efforts on lifesaving care for women and to end all ties with Planned Parenthood."

You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.