The Komen "Race To The Right"

Yesterday, the Susan G. Komen Foundation, the nation's preeminent advocate for breast cancer research, announced that they have cancelled their annual $500,000 contribution to Planned Parenthood, such contribution given for . . . breast cancer screenings! Huh? WTF?

Planned Parenthood has been around for a hell of lot longer than Komen, doing good and important work. It provides women -- often low-income, uninsured women -- with a variety of health services, including but not limited to abortions. Planned Parenthood receives federal funds, but, per the "Hyde Amendment", those funds are not used for abortions.


Nevertheless, abortion is the reason for the Komen Foundation's inexplicable decision. Less than a year ago, Komen recruited Karen Handel to be their Senior VP for Public Policy. Handel made an unsuccessful attempt to be the Republican candidate for Georgia governor in 2010. She is a virulent "pro-life" fanatic who has long wanted to de-fund and eliminate Planned Parenthood.

And just like that, Komen can no longer support breast cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood, the only place where some women can afford them. This is just weird. Komen's new public policy is counter-productive to their own mission.

In this case, the money is meaningless. It's just a drop in both buckets. Planned Parenthood will continue to provide screenings, thank you very much. And they may wind up getting more than $500,000 in protest/solidarity donations.

This is a case of Komen making a statement. Any claim to the contrary is 100% bullshit. For some reason (which they may regret already), Komen hired a conservative ideologue to oversee its public policy, and they got what they paid for. Komen now has a conservative ideological public policy. Ms. Handel made a statement, all right. A stupid one.

Up to this point, Susan G. Komen was never an obviously political organization. They took no sides, they just took money to do good work in a good cause. Their only drawback was their relentless pink-ifying of everything from baseball bats to buckets of KFC chicken.

But now they've taken a turn. It may please some, but it will piss off a lot more. Already has. I'll do a bit of advocacy myself: If you plan to run in the "Komen Race For The Cure", or just give them money, please think twice before you do. This year, consider giving that money to Planned Parenthood. I just sent them $20, and made my own statement.