Most of us already know that Susan G. Komen, a group that strives for finding cures for women's cancers, has pulled their funding from Planned Parenthood, a group that strives for keeping young women healthy and educated about their bodies...and yes occasionally preforms abortions. That in itself is very disturbing. What is even more disturbing is that amount of crap that has been spewed on Facebook and Twitter.
I logged onto Facebook this morning and I was bombarded with links to articles about how many people have stepped up to donate money to Planned Parenthood (Yeah!), how Susan G Komen has had an influx of donations (Yeah! but confused)... then I got hit with a couple of posts about WHY Komen got extra donations. Do you want to know why? Because now that they've cut ties with Planned Parenthood all these extra conservative right wingers feel more comfortable donating. They don't want their hard earned money going towards some stupid teenage girls abortion.
Then I got to thinking about it....Exactly what does Planned Parenthood do for women (old and young)
They educate women on sex and protection.
They provide birth control in various ways (distribute condoms, give birth control pills, give the shot)
They provide annual pap smears in order to screen for cancer.
They provide mammograms in order to screen for cancer.
Oh and yes, the do also perform abortions.
What I'm basically saying is that they do SO MUCH MORE for women then just perform abortions. Why would you want to cut that funding? Maybe Komen should be happy that they got more funding now that they cut ties with Planned Parenthood because all these women that will lose such a valuable resource will have NO WHERE to get screened and there will be a huge
It makes me sick to know that people who are so pro-life are so anti-women. Shouldn't they be supporting other women and their health? Aren't we all working towards the same end result? Keeping women healthy? Why can't we keep politics out of our uterus? Why can't we keep finding a cure for cancer and abortions separate? Why do people see Planned Parenthood and only think of the abortion aspect and completely ignore all the other great things that Planned Parenthood has to offer?
Just like every woman has the right to have access to a mammogram and pap smear in order to protect her health, she has the RIGHT to have an abortion. It's her choice. Her body. Her right. What I don't get about a lot of these pro-lifers is that they complain and complain women having abortions and how they've killed an innocent child....yet they complain about the amount of taxes that they pay in order keep these families on welfare because they were guilted into keeping the child they KNEW they couldn't afford.
What's my stance? I'm Pro-Life for myself. I couldn't imagine having an abortion but I've never put myself into the position that I would have to consider it. However, on that note, I'm Pro-Choice for everyone else. I am not in your shoes to make decisions for you. Would I love it if no one had an abortion ever, sure....but I wouldn't take away your rights because of my OPINION..... I guess that is the problem. Opinions are like assholes and everyone has one...some of us just like forcing ours on others.
I understand being Pro-Life but when Pro-Life starts to equal Anti-Women you've lost my support. As of this moment forward I will NO longer be supporting Susan G Komen by donating money, by participating in their walks, or spreading the word for them. Instead I will take my hard earned money and the money my company has allotted for donations and put them to Planned Parenthood, an organization that doesn't care if you are black, white, or yellow, doesn't care if you are straight, gay, or transgendered, an organization that will help you with birth control or help you with an abortion. I will NOT donate my money to an organization that is turning their backs on an organization that NEEDS grants and donations to continue to help women.
What are your thoughts about Komen pulling the grants from Planned Parenthood. Was it a wise decision or a huge mistake?
XOXO
Jenny
Amen. I've heard both sides but this is exactly how I feel. They're being Anti-Women by cutting funding. I did hear that 3 Dallas PP locations have been "okayed" to receive funding from SGK but it still doesn't change my opinion. It's crap that they took the ONE controversial thing PP offers over the FOUR huge positive things they do for women. Incredible.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree with you. Between this and Komen's practice of "pinkwashing" (lending their name to companies who sell products made from materials that are known to cause cancer in the name of raising money for cancer awareness), I am done with them. I think I'm more angry about the pinkwashing and that only 15-30% (depending on what source you read) of the money donated to Komen actually goes to fund cancer research. Komen needs to stop the "branding" and focus on what their original intent was.
ReplyDeleteI hope that if any good comes from this controversy, it is that it shines the light on the other less than favorable aspects of SGK. It's gone from a charity to an industry.
I am completely pro-life, and I am also pro-woman. Planned Parenthood is not the only location to get free or low-cost health screenings. Most county health departments also offer the same services, so cutting funding to Planned Parenthood in no way prohibits women from receiving those necessary, possibly life-saving, services.
ReplyDeletePlanned Parenthood was founded by Margaret Sanger - a renowned racist and eugenist. Some of her "lovely" quotes can be read here.
Also, there is a suspected link between abortions, and breast cancer. No, it has not been confirmed, but until it has been proven false, SGK should not donate money to an organization, whose practices may lead to the very disease that SGK for which SGK is hoping to find a cure.
Finally, SGK is a private organization. They should not be forced to donate to anyone they choose not to. Pro-life advocates such as myself, were simply boycotting SGK, and donating to the American Cancer Society, in an effort to keep our money focused on the cancer research, and away from an organization to which we are morally opposed.
Apparently, both organizations have benefited from the separation. In two days, Planned Parenthood raised $400,000 - 2/3 of the yearly grant from Susan G. Komen. $250,000 from a single donor. SGK, in the same time frame, has seen donations increase 100%, most likely, from people who now feel free to support an organization we have always wanted to help, but have been morally prevented from helping.
As for my views - I am 100% pro-life - not just anti-abortion. I am against abortion, embryonic stem cell research, euthanasia and the death penalty. I would only be in favor of an abortion if the life of the mother were at stake. As for the rape/incest "exemption" - I do not see how killng a child makes the situation better. I have been pregnant out of wedlock. Placing my child for adoption did not cause me any negative problems, other than a few changes in my physical appearance. I have also been a victim of incest - for most of my childhood. I was blessed to not have to deal with a pregnancy resulting from that, but I KNOW I could not have killed my child because of it. Who knows, maybe if I had gotten pregnant, it would have ended sooner. I will never know.
[I am signing this as anonymous for my privacy, because of my previous paragraph]
I omitted the link the the Margaret Sanger quotes. Here it is: http://www.dianedew.com/sanger.htm
ReplyDeleteI'm not a fan of Komen to begin with. I think if you want to give money to help with breast cancer research there are better options.
ReplyDeleteI need to get myself caught up on all of this. I've been out of the "news loop" and don't know what's going on. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDelete@Anonymous - I'm glad your adoption experience was a positive ones. Others are not so fortunate. Myself? I wish I had not been forced to be pregnant after being raped multiple times by various men at the age of 12. Being forced upon in such a violent manner, then being forced to keep the child, birth it AND give it up? Fucked me up for more than a decade. It was PLANNED PARENTHOOD that gave me my life back years down the line when I finally realize I needed some professional help to get me back on track. For your information- in many smaller communities guess who the public health system refers you to for affordable/free healthcare services? PLANNED PARENTHOOD.
ReplyDeleteAs for Sanger? Planned Parenthood is so much more than she ever planned for it to be. Her history isn't a pretty one but she has done more for women than any member of the so-called Pro-Life movement ever will.
Regarding Komen- if a group is going to claim to be politically unmotivated and say it's FOR the health of women? Then it should not cut funding to groups that are responsible for helping save women's lives. Period. If they are going to do so then stop with the bullshit statements and say it clearly "We aren't supporting Planned Parenthood anymore because one of our head people is a pro-lifer & she's running the show."
ReplyDeleteIt seems like a lot of people jumped ship when this started going down and I don't think Komen will get all of them back - even with an apology.
ReplyDelete