Jill Stanek has written two brilliant articles in World Net Daily, detailing Susan G. Komen Foundation’s multi-million dollar donations to Planned Parenthood. They are presented here.
(Part I) PLANNED PARENTHOOD DEEPENS LINK TO BREAST CANCER GROUP
The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation had noble beginnings, launched by Nancy Goodman Brinker in response to a promise she made to her dying sister, Susan Goodman Komen, to do all she could to eradicate breast cancer. Komen succumbed to the disease in 1980 at age 36. Nancy went on to contract the disease herself and is now a survivor.
SGK has a noble mission, “to save lives and end breast cancer forever.”
But for years pro-lifers have opposed contributing to SGK because it not only denies that induced abortions may cause breast cancer, it also bestows financial grants to Planned Parenthood affiliates.
Pro-lifers believe that for all the good SGK does, it shoots its mission in both feet by refusing to educate women about the abortion-breast cancer link while funding the United States’ largest abortion provider.
Disregarding decades of worldwide studies concluding there is a link between abortion and breast cancer, logic alone says abortion increases the risk.
On its website, SGK acknowledges that childbearing protects women from breast cancer, and the more children a mother bears and the younger she begins bearing them the better. SGK also acknowledges breast-feeding protects against breast cancer.
But abortion blocks all those preventative measures.
Only last week a new study got lots of press that found breast cancer survivors lower their risk of dying by 42 percent simply by getting pregnant.
But abortion blocks that protection.
SGK acknowledges never having children increases a woman’s risk of getting breast cancer, and delaying childbearing, particularly after age 35, also increases the risk.
And abortion increases the risk of both those risks.
Logic.
It would seem logical that with all the controversy surrounding abortion’s role in breast cancer, SGK would simply back away from involvement with it in any way if wanting to stay true to its mission “to save lives and end breast cancer forever.”
That would include SGK’s relationship with Planned Parenthood.
But SGK is not backing away. Between 2003 and 2008, SGK gave $3 million to Planned Parenthood. In Fiscal Year 2008 alone, Planned Parenthood got $805,000 from SGK.
SGK now has a webpage dedicated to defending its involvement with Planned Parenthood, including message points and a letter from a “pro-life Catholic.”
Most recently added to the webpage, in March, was an open letter from SGK’s chief scientific adviser quoting two Catholic ethicists who “concluded that it was morally permissible for the church to be involved with Komen in light of its funding agreements with Planned Parenthood … specifically and solely for breast health services. …”
SGK maintains there are certain places in the United States where Planned Parenthood is the sole provider of breast-cancer screening, education and treatment.
I don’t believe it, but that is SGK’s defense. Even if so, is it really “morally permissible” to cause breast cancer in one room if screening for it in the next?
Three days ago a diligent pro-lifer in Washington state discovered on Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest’s IRS 990 forms that it has held a 12.5 percent share in Metro Centre, a mall in Peoria, Ill., since 2006.
PPGNW is Washington’s largest abortion provider. (It is also currently under investigation for Medicaid fraud.)
Metro Centre is owned by Eric Brinker.
Eric Brinker is the son of Nancy Goodman Brinker, the founder of SGK. Eric also sits on SGK’s board.
Eric was a stand-up guy and responded to most of my initial questions. He explained in an e-mail, “This share represents a minority, non-operating interest in the business which they inherited from one of the original shareholders, a resident of Peoria. I, Eric Brinker, have controlling interest in Metro Centre.”
But when I pursued follow-up questions, Eric wrote he was no longer available.
So there is much still unanswered. Why didn’t PPGNW cash in its inheritance? Why didn’t Eric buy? If the share was willed, it was worth something. The real-estate market was thriving in 2006. It appears both partners are OK with this now four-year-old business partnership.
Eric wrote in his e-mail only “20 of Komen’s 122 U.S. Affiliates fund breast-health services through local Planned Parenthood clinics.” SGK states the total money given represents “less than one percent of the total granted by affiliates.”
My question then is why bother? Why play with fire?
Whatever, the fact remains that the son of the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, who is also a member of the board, owns a business – a mall – together with a Planned Parenthood affiliate.
The irony. Susan G. Komen’s nephew is financially enabling an abortion business.
And condemning more women to develop breast cancer.
(Part II) THE CONSEQUENCES OF ADMITTING ABC LINK
In my previous column, I revealed that the son of the founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation is in a joint business venture with Planned Parenthood of the Great Northwest.
Located in Washington state, PPGNW holds a 12.5 percent share of the Metro Centre mall in Peoria, Ill., where Nancy Goodman Brinker’s son Eric Brinker maintains “controlling interest,” according to an e-mail he sent me.
Eric is also a Komen board member.
This only matters because Komen refuses to acknowledge the link between abortion and breast cancer while it insists on bestowing grants to affiliates of the United States’ largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood.
That Eric Brinker is in business with one of those affiliates thickens the plot.
Brinker wrote me that only “20 of Komen’s 122 U.S. affiliates fund breast health services through local Planned Parenthood clinics.”
Coincidentally, two of those 20, Komen Puget Sound and Komen Boise, fund Brinker’s business partner, PPGNW.
Komen has gone to quite a bit of trouble to protect what it claims is an infinitesimal relationship with Planned Parenthood.
Stating Planned Parenthood receives “less than 1 percent” of its donations, Komen now has a webpage, message points and a dispensation letter from a Catholic named Norman dedicated to sanctioning their relationship.
Why? If there were even the remotest chance abortion causes breast cancer, which several worldwide studies conducted over the course of many decades confirm, wouldn’t a responsible breast-cancer foundation back away from any risk of facilitating it?
Eric wrote in his e-mail to me, in bold, “There is no conclusive link between abortion and breast cancer.” “Conclusive,” interesting. Was Eric subtly acknowledging there is an inconclusive link?
Eric also wrote that Komen only funds Planned Parenthood “in areas where Planned Parenthood clinics are the only venue for women to receive breast screenings.” He and other Komen officials I spoke with stressed these are in underprivileged areas.
That this may be true is only because Planned Parenthood locates clinics in poor and minority areas specifically to control their populations through contraception and abortion. Komen merely corroborates this fact.
But that is no excuse to partner with Planned Parenthood. Early detection of breast cancer through screening should not be the goal. Prevention should be the goal.
All five PPGNW Planned Parenthoods involved with Komen either commit or refer for abortions. All dispense birth-control pills and emergency contraceptives.
Which leads to another point. Komen states on its website:
A large analysis that combined the results of many studies found that while women were taking birth-control pills (and shortly thereafter), they had a 10 to 30 percent higher risk of breast cancer than women who had never used birth-control pills.
(Column continues below)
As for the emergency contraceptive pill, which contains 10-15 times the amount of artificial hormones as a single birth-control pill, its labeling states it is contraindicated if one has a current or past history of breast cancer.
In fact, it appears hormonal contraceptives are more seriously implicated in breast cancer than previously known.
In 2009 a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention showed that the risk for women under 40 of contracting a newly identified and virulent form of the disease called triple-negative breast cancer rose by 320 percent if using hormonal contraceptives for a year or more.
That same study, co-authored in part by two of the very National Cancer Institute researchers who in 2003 denied a link between abortion and breast cancer, also acknowledged a 40 percent increased risk of contracting breast cancer under the age of 40 if a woman had had an abortion.
So there are several reasons for Komen to part company with Planned Parenthood.
A final point. Tragically, Susan Goodman Komen was only 33 years old when contracting breast cancer, and she died three years later. Her sister Nancy contracted breast cancer at age 39. She is now a 25-year survivor.
Both were under 40.
Would recognition that one’s reproductive history may be implicated in breast cancer be too hard to handle within the upper echelon of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation?
Would it make the disease less noble?
Wow. Thank you so much for sharing this. I have been following your blog for several weeks and spent hours going back through your archives. I am very appreciative for your advocacy of Life and Truth! God bless you in this ministry!
I’m so tired of seeing pink products in the stores, many with no indication of which charity they support. I’m sure there are some good breast cancer research organizations out there, but why can’t we just make a cash contribution directly to the charity? There are times when I’ll pass over a product I’d normally buy because is says “Susan G. Komen” on it in order to avoid supporting Planned Parenthood.
Also, be wary of sports events supporting the Komen Foundation if you don’t want to be supporting Planned Parenthood. High schools have been scheduling “Dig for the Cure” and similarly titled fundraisers for volleyball matches.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure awards 72 grants to Planned Parenthood in 2000-2005 period
Media contact:
Dorinda C. Bordlee, Esq.,
504-231-7234
info@BDFund.org
October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Breast cancer detection, prevention, research and treatment are of the utmost importance due to the devastating impact that this disease has on women and their families.
Pro-life citizens who are interested in fighting this deadly disease should be aware that one breast cancer organization, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, has a policy of explicitly allowing its state affiliates to give monetary grants to abortion providing facilities.
Not all state affiliates give grants to Planned Parenthood using the 75% of the funds that they raise in a state. However, each state affiliate must forward at least 25% of funds raised in their state to the Komen National office. These funds are under the discretion of a board that refuses to disassociate itself from Planned Parenthood as shown by the facts below:
Planned Parenthood is the number one provider of abortions in the United States. During its 2005-2006 fiscal year, the nonprofit Planned Parenthood Federation of America performed a record 264,943 abortions according to its annual report.
At least 13 Susan G. Komen for the Cure affiliates have awarded at least 55 grants to Planned Parenthood afflilates during the years 2000 through 2005. These grants are reported on the Susan G. Komen website by entering “Planned Parenthood” on Komen’s searchable grant page.
Komen claims that money raised by affiliates who give money grants to Planned Parenthood is for breast services only. However, Planned Parenthood documents in its 2005-2006 annual report that 9,900 more abortions were performed and 81,500 fewer breast exams were provided in 2005 than in 2004.
KOMEN’S EXPRESS POLICY ALLOWING PLANNED PARENTHOOD GRANTS: Because Komen refused their request to stop providing grants to Planned Parenthood, Curves, a privately held fitness franchise firm owned by women’s health advocate Gary Heavin, ceased supporting Komen events. Here is Komen’s response by its Public Relations Manager Kristin Kelly:
“The Komen Foundation is confident that none of its community Affiliates have stopped funding Planned Parenthood as a result of the pressure from Curves, Operation Save America or any other organization. In fact, when faced with opposition from Curves or the threat that Curves franchises would no longer support the Foundation unless Planned Parenthood funding was eliminated, the Komen Foundation told Mr. Heavin (founder and CEO of Curves) that we would not, in any way, undermine the integrity of our grant-making process. In addition the Foundation told Mr. Heavin that it would continue to allow Komen Affiliates to provide breast health education and screening grants to Planned Parenthood if the grant application was approved through the process outlined above. As a result, Curves chose to suspend its support of Komen Affiliate events, including sponsorship of the Komen Race for the Cure (r). In 2003, Komen Affiliates awarded $38.4 million in grants to support community outreach programs, including 21 grants to their local Planned Parenthood chapters totaling more than $475,000.”
Source: Komen website as copied into Powerpoint Presentation by Eve Sanchez, former Komen board member, http://stopabortionbreastcancer.org/talks/denver_silver060930.pdf
In March 2008, the St. Louis Archdiocese renewed its June 2007 policy of non-support for Komen due to Komen’s national policy of allowing affiliates to give grants to Planned Parenthood, and of promoting embryonic stem cell research. This statement was made even though the Missouri affiliate did not give grants to Missouri Planned Parenthood because at least 25% of locally raised funds are under the discretion of Komen’s national office.
Background Facts: Why is Komen tied to Planned Parenthood?
Nancy Brinker, Komen Founder, was listed as an advisory board member in the 2002 annual report of Planned Parenthood of North Texas, the fifth largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the nation.
In September of 2004, Eve Sanchez Silver, a breast cancer survivor and charter member of Komen’s Hispanic/Latina Advisory Council, resigned from Komen, stating, “As a Christian and life affirming citizen I can not reconcile the Foundation’s decision to affirm life with one hand and support its destruction with the other.”
BDF encourages you to contact Susan G. Komen for the Cure (5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250, Dallas, TX 75244) and call for an end to all associations between Komen affiliates and Planned Parenthood, for funding of further studies on the link between breast cancer and abortion, and for an end to the endorsement of research that leads to the destruction of any human life.
Please encourage the Komen Foundation to focus all funds on research to find causes and cures for breast cancer and refuse to give financial or other support to any abortion provider or organization that promotes the destruction of human life.
ALTERNATE BREAST CANCER ORGANIZATIONS:
Click here for breast cancer organizations that do not support abortion facilities or destructive human embryo experimentation.
Copyright 2007 – Bioethics Defense Fund. Permission granted for unlimited use. Credit required..
For more information, contact us at info@bdfund.org or use our contact form.
Thanks Claire for posting our info. The Bioethics Defense Fund information on the Komen-Planned Parenthood link can be reviewed here:
http://www.bdfund.org/breastcancer.asp
http://www.bdfund.org/breastcancer.asp
As a survivior I think it is iimportant that we keep in mmind that the Komenorganization remains consistenetly recognizedas one of the beat reun charities in the US with the mjority if its funds going to researcj or stagin in hte communities to provides services.
Here is a statement awaited addressing the sensitive subject.= that can be found on the SUsan G komen website It clarifies the Komen organization’s relationship with Planned Parenthood. Here it is, in its entirety.
CWMcM April 2010
_____________________________________________
March 2009
An open letter about Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and Planned Parenthood
This year, as in the past, Susan G. Komen for the Cure® is being criticized by some for funding a handful of women’s health programs run by, or with ties to, Planned Parenthood. I’m writing this letter to explain our position and to correct any misinformation you may have heard about this issue.
Susan G. Komen for the Cure exists for only one reason: to save lives and to end breast cancer forever. In the past 27 years, we’ve invested more than $1.3 billion to accomplish those goals through research and for programs that educate, screen and treat people in communities all around the world.
Early screening through mammograms and education are critical to end the suffering from this disease: 98 percent of women treated for early stage breast cancer, before it spreads, are alive five years later. The widespread use of mammography and heightened public awareness of breast cancer both contribute to these favorable statistics.
And while Komen Affiliates provide funds to pay for screening, education and treatment programs in dozens of communities, in some areas, the only place that poor, uninsured or under-insured women can receive these services are through programs run by Planned Parenthood.
These facilities serve rural women, poor women, Native American women, women of color, and the un- and under-insured. As part of our financial arrangements, we monitor our grantees twice a year to be sure they are spending the money in line with our agreements, and we are assured that Planned Parenthood uses these funds only for breast health education, screening and treatment programs.
As long as there is a need for health care for these women, we will continue to fund the facilities that meet that need.
Ethicists in the Catholic Church have also examined this issue. One year ago, two Catholic ethicists – Ron Hamel, Ph.D. and Michael Panicola, Ph.D. – examined the moral implications of our funding decision. They concluded that it was morally permissible for the church to be involved with Komen in light of its funding agreements with Planned Parenthood.
“The fact that some Komen affiliates, at times, provide funding to Planned Parenthood specifically and solely for breast health services cannot on the face of it be construed as wrongdoing,” the ethicists wrote. “The good that Komen does and the harm that would come to so many women if Komen ceased to exist or ceased to be funded would seem to be a sufficiently proportionate reason” for Catholics to support our funding decisions (emphasis added).
Another piece of misinformation being spread by many who criticize Komen for the Cure for its Planned Parenthood grants is that abortion causes breast cancer. Well conducted research consistently fails to support this claim. We agree with the bulk of scientific evidence – from the National Cancer Institute, Harvard, a rigorous study in Denmark and from Oxford University – that there is no conclusive link between breast cancer and induced abortion or miscarriage.
It is important for women to receive accurate information about risk factors for breast cancer. There are steps a woman can take to reduce her risk of developing breast cancer (for example, maintaining a healthy weight) as well as important steps every woman should take to make sure that, if she does develop breast cancer, it is detected and treated as soon as possible. A complete list of risk factors and screening recommendations can be found on our website http://www.komen.org.
More detailed information is on our web site at http://www.komen.org. We invite you to review the documents there, and we thank you again for taking time to investigate our position on this issue.
Eric Winer, M.D.
Chief Scientific Advisor
Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
My 13 year old said it best. It is like Hitler doing wonderful things for the germans while killing the jewish people in it s camps. No excuses, a right and a wrong do not make a right.
@darlene: Did you miss the part about Komen money not being used for abortions? You would rather women die of breast cancer than receive money through an organization you personally disapprove of? How sad that you think the life of living, breathing women is without value.
When Komen gives money to PP and says it is only for breast cancer research that sounds great but the reality is that when they give money for research it frees up other money to be used for abortions.
I am in total agreement with Darelene….any organization that gives any funds to the #1 instrument for taking human lives is frightening and the Irony of “saving a life”,
I definately see the devil in the details on this one. There
has got to be clinics that support womens health with-out
the abortion. I know in our community there are churches that have free clinics, one like the Vineyard Church of Columbus Ohio. We need to get back to “as you’ve done to least of these you’ve done unto me (Jesus).
Every Life is a precious gift and worth the fight. From conception to natural death.
I have seen repeated many times on prolife sites the claim that abortion causes breast cancer. Just a little research on the internet will show how this claim is incorrect.
Mike,
I suggest you do more than “a little” research, because there’s quite a bit to the contrary. Start digging here on this blog.
[…] all of that not enough, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been donating millions of dollars to Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions and OCs in the nation. […]
I find it interesting that the Open Letter about the Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood sites two Catholic ethicists as authorities for both Catholic teaching and ethics. These men state that there is no problem with funding an organization that earns it’s main bread and butter through abortion. As a Catholic, I am sorry to say that you can find many poorly formed members of our faith who lack knowledge of the Church’s true teachings concerning issues of conscience and morals. If these two men really knew what the Church taught, they would not throw support to the Komen Foundation. Instead, they would know that abortion is concidered a non-negotiable issue. This means that abortion is never, under ANY circumstance, considered morally acceptable or permissible. Period. Supporting a group that makes most of its income through abortion services and contraception (a process that also causes abortion) is never, ever acceptable either. I refer you to the 2008 joint statement of Bishop Kevin Farrell, Bishop of Dallas, and Bishop Kevin Vann, Bishop of Fort Worth, as proof. You might want to google this to see what the Catholic Church actually teaches rather than take my word for it.
[…] here to learn of Susan G. Komen’s multi-million dollar connection to Planned […]
[…] here to learn of Susan G. Komen’s multi-million dollar connection to Planned […]
Blind leading the blind, abortions don’t cause breast cancer. That is pitiful. Tell that to any woman who has survived breast cancer or who is still fighting. Tell that to the families who have lost their loved ones to breast cancer who have not had an abortion. They would laugh in your face. You’re putting down a great advocate of prevention and research to pick at where they fund screening and education. This article lacks everything that a good article has; evidence and a back bone.
Susan,
I suggest that you start reading the abortion/breast cancer literature before you start discussing backbone here.
You can’t talk sense to crazy people and drunks.