Quite often when I log onto Facebook, I notice in my news feed that certain memes become popular, passed around amongst my liberal friends. The latest is in regards to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Planned Parenthood:
Donors reacting to the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to cut off funding to Planned Parenthood contributed $650,000 in 24 hours, nearly enough to replace last year’s Komen funding, Planned Parenthood executives said Wednesday.
The organization had raised more than $400,000 from more than 6,000 online donors as of Wednesday afternoon, compared with the 100 to 200 donations it receives on an average day, said Tait Sye, a spokesman for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America. He said donations were still coming in.
But if the Foundation‘s defunding of Planned Parenthood has sparked a spike in donations and has in just 24 hrs already raised enough funding to replace Komen’s contributions, what’s with all the brouhaha? Think about how much they’ll raise in another 24 hrs more of FB outrage. Planned Parenthood’s alive and kicking, still raking it in. If liberals want to support Planned Parenthood, they don’t need the Susan G. Komen for the Cure; they can and should fund it themselves. Should Komen have even been funding Planned Parenthood (ever!) in the first place? Doesn’t the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation have the right to choose to abort Planned Parenthood if they so desire?
What’s passed around on Facebook right now is a link to the highly non-partisan, apolitical MoveOn.org (who would never put politics ahead of lives):
Without Komen’s funding, many of these women will be unable to get the screenings and early detection of breast cancer that saves lives.
It’s incredibly disappointing for an organization founded on protecting women’s health to play politics with real women’s lives. Tell Susan G. Komen for the Cure to put lives ahead of politics.
And how is MoveOn.org and Planned Parenthood not putting politics ahead of lives, themselves? How is Planned Parenthood a pro-choice organization when all I ever see them promote is pro-abortion literature? When about 90% of pregnant women who visit Planned Parenthood get abortions, how is Planned Parenthood not “pro-abortion”?!
Curt blogged last year:
From 2002-2008, Planned Parenthood received more than $342 million in federal taxpayer money through Title X funding alone. In its 2008-2009 annual report, Planned Parenthood revealed that it received $363.2 million in various federal, state, and local government grants and contracts for that fiscal year, a significant increase from the prior year. During that same time period, they performed an unprecedented 324,008 abortions, which equates to 888 abortions each and every day.
If the number of abortions performed alone doesn’t convince you of Planned Parenthood’s agenda, just compare that number with other services the organization provides to pregnant women. In 2008, their number of adoption referrals dropped a staggering 51 percent from the prior year to a meager 2,405. Additionally, the number of prenatal clients they served was less than 0.09 percent of the total services provided by Planned Parenthood in 2008. Pregnant women seeking help from Planned Parenthood were 27 times more likely to receive an abortion than to receive prenatal care or be referred for adoption. That is an appalling and heartbreaking statistic.
Abortion is legal. Federal financing of those abortions shouldn’t be.
Here’s the Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s side of the issue:
DALLAS, TX — February 1, 2012 — We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized. It is necessary to set the record straight.
Starting in 2010, Komen began an initiative to help us do a better job of measuring the impact of community grants. This is important because we invest significant dollars in our local community programs–$93 million in 2011, which provided for 700,000 breast health screenings and diagnostic procedures.
Following this review, we made the decision to implement stronger performance criteria for our grantees to minimize duplication and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women. To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.
Some might argue that our standards are too exacting, but over the past three decades people have given us more than just their money. They have given us their trust and we take that responsibility very seriously.
We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Throughout our 30 year history, our priority has always been and will continue to be the women we serve. As we move forward, we are working to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for the women who need our support most in the fight against breast cancer.
WaPo:
Komen officials told the Associated Press on Tuesday that they had decided to stop funding Planned Parenthood, saying a new national policy barred support for organizations under government investigation. A House committee began a probe in September into Planned Parenthood’s compliance with federal restrictions on funding abortions.
Why should Planned Parenthood ever be under investigation? Well, here’s Feb 1st of last yr:
Take the pro-life group Live Action. On Feb. 1, they released shocking videos showing what they found when they brought hidden cameras into Planned Parenthood clinics, with a man and woman posing as pimp and prostitute. An office manager was taped telling the “pimp” how to evade the law, such as lying about prostitutes’ ages if they were children 14 or over. Any younger, and the clinic would be obligated to report to the authorities. “We want as little information as possible,” she said conspiratorially.
More:
In an ethics trial that is seeking to determine in part whether Kline acted too aggressively to enforce Kansas child rape laws in his capacity as Attorney General or Johnson Co. District Attorney, Kline just revealed to the court under oath that he found 166 instances during a specific time period when girls 14 years old and younger got abortions at clinics owned either by late-term abortionist George Tiller or Planned Parenthood of Overland Park.
But during that same time period, Kline testified, Planned Parenthood reported only one case of child rape, and Tiller reported only one case of child rape.
Apparently the Komen website was hacked by liberals who tolerate opposing viewpoints and who are staunch defenders of our 1st Amendment rights:
I believe that most people who claim to be “pro-choice” with the added disclaimer, “I’m against abortion, personally…” are merely being cop-outs: They are actually pro-abortion but need to rationalize it to their conscience (the ones who have one).
I’m actually more pro-choice than the supporters of Planned Parenthood are.
More here
A former fetus, the “wordsmith from nantucket” was born in Phoenix, Arizona in 1968. Adopted at birth, wordsmith grew up a military brat. He achieved his B.A. in English from the University of California, Los Angeles (graduating in the top 97% of his class), where he also competed rings for the UCLA mens gymnastics team. The events of 9/11 woke him from his political slumber and malaise. Currently a personal trainer and gymnastics coach.
The wordsmith has never been to Nantucket.