Who's politicizing breast cancer?

From the editor: I had to avoid watching news shows over the weekend, because the constant rehash of the "poor, poor Planned Parenthood" line was making me sick, as though they are the only resource women have in the fight against breast cancer.

I just want to point something out for the record: Pro-life people have long wanted to participate in Komen fundraising drives. Years ago I collected my yogurt caps and dutifully sent them in, until I learned that Komen funded PP. In other words, any activism on our part was motivated by concern for women and a desire to give.

Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, was motivated by the desire to get. Seeing the end of a lucrative dollar-stream, they screamed and hollered (and perhaps worse) until they got it back. Quite a contrast, if you ask me.

Now, lest we feel too sorry for Komen in all of this, let me just refer you to their recent 990. I'm no accountant, but it appears to me they brought in over $900 million last year. If I'm reading this right, they spent a large chunk of it (well over $368 million) lobbying legislators -- probably for more money.

In light of this information, PP's share ($680,000) is/was a pittance. (I imagine it would have to be a lot more if they actually did mammograms.) We all saw how quickly and easily they were able to make up the difference -- with the media's help. Why should anyone feel sorry for them?

Should anyone feel sorry for Komen? I don't. For one thing, I'd be surprised if all the pro-life ministries in the nation pooled their resources that we could come up with $900 million of income in one year. Maybe I'm wrong (who has time to figure it out?), but I know our entire budget is about half of what PP gets from Komen.

But as the American Association of Pro-Life Ob/Gyns points out, it is not the pro-life side who has politicized breast cancer. The majority of world studies on the abortion/breast cancer link come up positive, but do you hear that from Komen or other major cancer organizations? From Planned Parenthood? No. They have vociferously hidden and obscured the link. And that is unconscionable when you consider all that PP does to promote abortion.

What I'm getting at here is that none of us needs to feel ashamed of our stance on this issue. Let the world say what they like, abortion does not help women, and (dare I say it?) Komen is not helping women. We, with our paltry budgets all aimed at abortion prevention, are helping women more than anyone will ever know.

This Huffington Post article underscores the difference between how pro-lifers wage their battles and how the other side does it: A Komen source is cited as saying "right-wing groups would organize a protest or send out a mailing every now and then, but it was on a low simmer." In contrast, once Komen decided to defund PP:

The backlash against Komen was intense, including threats of violence, angry letters from members of Congress and public rebukes from political figures such as New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The charity struggled to deal with the pressure, especially in a face-off against Planned Parenthood, an organization whose fine-tuned political team has experience in these high-pitched, high-stakes debates. . . . "politically speaking, they're no match for Planned Parenthood." . . . "They were just naive in the face of [the] incredibly sophisticated Planned Parenthood operation." . . . Komen has been left reeling and its reputation as a top charity endangered. "We're under attack. We're getting threats of violence," the source said. "It's devastating."