by Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
(April 11, 2008) A new report reveals that Susan G. Komen for the Cure donated more than $700,000 to the nation’s largest abortion provider fiscal year 2005-2006 in spite of a substantial body of evidence supporting a link between induced abortion and breast cancer.
The new report was issued by STOPP International and is based on Komen records showing that various chapters donated $711,485 to Planned Parenthood affiliates between April 1, 2005 and March 31, 2006.
Jim Sedlak of STOPP says these numbers should cause concern among pro-lifers because so many of them participate in the Susan G. Komen annual Race for the Cure.
“More and more people are speaking up about the fact that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer research foundation, supports Planned Parenthood,” Sedlak told LifeNews. “The fact that Komen Affiliates give money to Planned Parenthood contradicts Komen’s claim that it works to end breast cancer. This is ridiculous and must stop.”
Representatives of Susan G. Komen have repeatedly said the money given to Planned Parenthood is earmarked for use in breast cancer screening. However, pro-life advocates say that because this money is fungible, it can be used in a variety of ways in addition to freeing up funds Planned Parenthood can then use for their abortion business.
Komen’s affiliation with Planned Parenthood has been generating controversy ever since Eve Sanchez Silver, their medical research analyst and Hispanic outreach director, resigned her post in protest of the policy in 2004.
Silver eventually met with Komen officials to talk about both the grants and the abortion breast cancer link and later told the press that Komen officials “did not appear to have knowledge of simple breast facts.”
They seemed “more concerned about assisting women after they had contracted breast cancer than informing them to avoid breast cancer risk by avoiding abortions and having [an] early, full term pregnancy,” she said.
Support for Komen has suffered as a result of its affiliation with Planned Parenthood. Several Catholic diocese have ceased their support of the organization. The most recent to do so was the Diocese of Lafayette Indiana where Catholics were told that participation in the Race for the Cure was inappropriate because of the organizations support of abortion providing facilities, embryonic stem cell research and their continued denial that abortion may lead to the development of breast cancer.
In spite of Komen claims that their money is only used by Planned Parenthood for cancer screening, the Diocesan statement reads: “Donors cannot control how an organization designates its funds. Therefore, money donated for a specific service, i.e., breast health care, directly frees up funds to support other areas of an organization’s agenda, i.e., contraceptive services, ‘safe’ sex education and abortion services.”
The diocese of Phoenix, Arizona asked parishioners in 2006 to tell Komen to stop contributing to Planned Parenthood and the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Missouri has asked its flock to boycott the annual Race for the Cure for the past few years.
The diocese of Little Rock, Arkansas rescinded a similar decision because Komen officials in the area convinced them that they only donate funds to Planned Parenthood facilities in areas where there are no other facilities available for poor women. They were also told by Komen officials that the abortion-breast cancer link is only believed to exist by a minority number of scientists.
This is in direct contradiction to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) 2007-2008 Respect Life Program, which includes an article explaining how abortion increases breast cancer risk and offering reasons why the evidence has been suppressed.
“Komen perpetuates the breast cancer epidemic by giving funds to Planned Parenthood,” said Karen Malec, president of the Coalition on Abortion Breast Cancer in a recent press release. As a seller of hormonal contraceptives and abortions, Planned Parenthood is a primary cause of the breast cancer epidemic.
“We encourage Komen to end its love affair with Planned Parenthood and give funds for breast cancer screenings to legitimate health care organizations that will use the money for its intended purpose,” she said. “We also call upon Komen to tell women the truth that abortion increases breast cancer risk.”
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The connection between breast cancer, abortion and birth control pill is often suppressed by both the medical community and the major media. Find out why this connection is so deadly in our show “Breast Cancer, Abortion and the Pill,” with Dr. Chris Kahlenborn and Dr. Joel Brind, available in our store at www.womenofgrace.com/catalog
