Komen and Planned Parenthood: What next?
Yes, let the Komen disaster be a lesson to anyone thinking of partnering with Planned Parenthood: You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.
On that topic, my inside source has checked in, telling me there were advisers who in December thought Komen should not notify Planned Parenthood of its decision to defund the abortion giant and just quietly not renew the grants. But Komen viewed the people at Planned Parenthood as “longtime friends” and felt obligated to let them know. Komen had no idea it was trying to pet a scorpion.
Truth be told, even I was taken aback by the shock and awe Planned Parenthood, abortion proponents, and the liberal media displayed this week. And I deal with these people all the time.
I’ve reread my post, “Inside story on Komen split from Planned Parenthood,” and my source accurately predicted the chain of events: Komen first said it was breaking from PP due to the federal investigation and only added it had also decided to limit grant money to breast healthcare providers – which Planned Parenthood is not – when its first reason failed to appease opponents. From the Washington Post:
There is also some ambiguity in the new funding policy because Komen’s statement did not mention a second reason the foundation had given for ending Planned Parenthood’s funding: that the group does not provide direct mammogram services but instead refers patients to other providers.
On Thursday, Komen founder Nancy Brinker had said the organization wants to support groups that directly provide breast-health services, such as mammograms. And Komen President Elizabeth Thompson had told reporters that the funding decision was unrelated to the ongoing congressional investigation. “First and foremost, it doesn’t really have anything to do with that,” Thompson said.
But numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates said they had been explicitly told they were not eligible to apply for funding because of the investigation, with no mention made of the mammogram-referral issue.
But too late Komen realized it was trying to hold a tiger by the tail.
My source said that with affiliates threatening to split, major corporate donors threatening to withhold serious cash, and liberal feminists threatening major corporate donors that they had better withhold their cash if they weren’t already planning to, Komen had to do something or lose everything.
The other side’s goal was clearly to destroy Komen if it did not buckle to Planned Parenthood. National Organization for Women president Terry O’Neill went so far as to predict Komen’s demise within five years on The Ed Show….
I’d say it would have actually taken closer to five days.
I don’t know that any organization could have fully prepared itself for Planned Parenthood’s onslaught. But SGK wasn’t blind-sided. According to my source the Associated Press notified the group several days before it broke the story on January 31, asking for comment.
So SGK had time to develop a strategy for response. But Komen’s PR firm was clearly not equipped for hardball politics. From the Washington Post:
“I felt like we were eaten alive,” said Logan Hood, executive director of Komen’s Aspen affiliate in Colorado. “We had no advance warning..?.?. We were sent into battle without armor.”…
“Honestly, we have been turned into a political association without any political skills,” said Laura Farmer Sherman, executive director of the San Diego Komen affiliate. “There was not a crisis-management plan. I think they were completely caught off guard.”
Three reasons for the fail
SGK and Brinker have led a charmed public life since she launched the foundation 30 years ago. SGK can take credit for bringing breast cancer awareness to the forefront of public attention. Because of SGK, breast cancer awareness and the color pink are now synonymous.
SGK has been able to fundraise like no other. The SGK brand is everywhere, even on the lid of my yogurt container.
So SGK and Brinker have come to expect public adoration, their first mistake. All good will flies out the window if abortion is intruded upon in any way.
In addition, Brinker thought her past loyalties to Planned Parenthood – sitting on a PP board, receiving a PP award, giving millions in grants to PP – would earn her favor when the break came, her second mistake. Everyone now knows how ruthless Planned Parenthood is, willing to destroy SGK and the work it does in retaliation.
Finally, Brinker thought her old friends in the media would have her back when this controversy arose, her third mistake.
Hence, this not so great interview with MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell. Brinker thought Mitchell would pitch her softballs, since Mitchell was a breast cancer survivor and acknowledged at the onset, “We’ve known each other a long time.” That didn’t happen. Furthermore, Brinker waffled on funding Planned Parenthood, an ill-advised strategy to appeal to moderates, according to my source, that was doomed to fail even as the words exited her mouth…..
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoCuefiJURc[/youtube]
Mitchell asked Brinker why would a bipartisan group like Komen hire pro-lifer and Planned Parenthood opponent Karen Handel in an executive role, as if only Komen can only hire pro-aborts? This would be bi-partisan? Brinker should have asked Mitchell whether Brinker’s role as a former Planned Parenthood board of advisers member rendered her unqualified. Of course not.
The mainstream media’s skewed approach to this story was ghastly. But that was to be expected. Only Komen and Brinker didn’t.
What will be the outcome of this? My source said my post, “Did Komen outfox the Left?” was accurate. Komen’s apology was careful not to include any commitment to give Planned Parenthood grants in the future. The Komen executive team doesn’t want to, now more than ever.
But there is a new wrinkle. Read here the memo and talking points Komen affiliates were given on December 16 [HT: reader mp]. None of the affiliates threatened to disassociate from Komen over its decision at the time. Only when incited by the mob this week did they do so.
But now they have done so. Plus, there are indications renegade Komen affiliates may now try to get grants for Planned Parenthoods that have never gotten grants before. So internally there’s a new problem.
In retrospect the better criteria for Komen to have put forth to defund Planned Parenthood would have been its fallback plan: that here forward it would only give grants to breast health providers, which, again, Planned Parenthood is not. As my friend David at Live Action pointed out, “Planned Parenthood is nothing more than an expensive phone book, at best.” PP doesn’t perform mammograms, nor does it treat women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.
So no one knows now whether Komen will succeed in extricating itself from Planned Parenthood. Until then, Komen should get no donations from pro-lifers. And if I were a pro-lifer who just gave to Komen under the impression it was no longer funding PP, I would ask for my donation back.
On a positive note, read the Christianity Today piece, “The Komen fiasco’s silver lining.”
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I would surmise that Komen did not make a decision to distance themselves from Planned Parenthood without focus groups, study and surveys. What they probably found was there was a vast, untapped pool of very generous donors in the Prolife world who would give if Komen disassociated themselves from Planned Parenthood. Of course this decision was not made lightly or in haste, Brinker is a FRIEND of Planned Parenthood, for Pete’s sake! I believe PP and Komen had an agreement to keep things under the radar and PP blatantly violated that to do some major fundraising, to Komen’s peril.
What Brinker obviously was not aware of, and did not count on, was the permeation of evil at the top echelon of Planned Parenthood. Just last month we were commenting on how Richards looks positively possessed. Anybody think that was just us being snide now? If this is how Planned Parenthood treats its “friends” what kind of spiritual junk have they been casting toward their higher profile Prolife detractors recently? I hope everybody has brushed up on their spiritual warfare prayers. This is obviously all out war now. Be encouraged! The devil only screams when he is losing ground; otherwise, he prefers to stay “occult.”
The other good thing that has come from this is that both Komen and Planned Parenthood have come to a greater level of exposure to those who care to take a gander. I think PP has lost a lot of stock in reputation over this. Many people on FB who are not self-identified prolifers are saying “yuck” to PP.
I hope Karen Handel exits Komen and starts her own Breast Cancer Awareness Institute. I would bless her efforts and give to her work.
Indeed there is a lesson here for anyone involved with the serpentine Planned Parenthood. When they unleash their mafia like wrath one had better not be in the way of it.
Nonetheless the whole event is not without its positives. More people than ever now understand the lies and deceptions engaged in by both Komen and Planned Parenthood. Once again PP’s image has been tarnished and even though the onslaught by PP was furious it is short lived. The only movement with staying power is the prolife movement and we are gaining strength even as the proaborts continue to kill themelves off by aborting their offspring and turning people off by their radicalism.
Weren’t you just defending them yesterday, saying it wasn’t over yet? Confused.
Just in case anyone missed it on a different thread yesterday, a friend of mine donated then called to ask SGK to refund her donation which she did. The following is what she was told to do by SGK.
Send email request to donorinquiry@komen.org
Include:
Name
Address
Date of donation
amount of donation
Reason you are asking for refund.
I also included method of payment and how it was made: Online, phone, mail in donation
The ridiculous irony of this whole situation is heartbreaking-why would any life-affirming organization partner with an organization whose sole intent is to eradicate life? Livestrong and Komen are utter failures. Grown men and women who couldn’t see past the dollar signs long enough to achieve the goal. Pretty sure Komen enabling PP to continue to provide low-cost babykillings will be mighty cold comfort to the women who will be diagnosed with breast cancer today-but, hey, they can go home and tell their families all is not lost-their own futures may be in jeopardy, but at least horny teenagers won’t have to sacrifice anything. SMH.
despite my frustration with how this played out, I was thrilled to see so much light shined on PP and their activities – here are a few excerpts from Bill O’Reilly’s Talking Points last night…
“Planned Parenthood is primarily in business to provide abortions”
“Planned Parenthood is much more than a women’s health organization – it is a pro-abortion lobby under the banner of ‘reproductive rights.”
“I don’t want to stand in front of God trying to explain how I supported the destruction of a fetus”
“Planned Parenthood is too political and too pro-abortion.”
MoronicProChoiceQuotes: I’m not a Komen defender. I’ve just been trying to objectively analyze the situation, which includes adding more information as I get it. I have no agenda, except to fight to protect the sanctity of innocent human life.
Bryan, thanks, good to know.
It seemed earlier like you were encouraging prolifers not to give up on Komen. Considering what a mess it all is, I suppose a certain amount of confusion as to positions is expected. Thanks for clarifying-I’m sure it hasn’t been easy to cover this story with so many conflicting reports. It will probably takes weeks to sort it all out.
This whole fiasco may shed light on why so many cancers have yet to be cured-too many dollar signs in the way as far as charitable research, and too much $ to be lost in the chemo/radiation and big pharmaceutical industries. Love of money really is the root of all evil-no better example of that than PP. Rant over.
Jill, you’re continuing to flog the canard that Planned Parenthood was the source for the January 31 Associated Press exclusive, thereby implying that Planned Parenthood somehow betrayed their counterparts at Komen. You can’t prove it. You know it. I know it.
Even if you can prove it, it doesn’t matter. The December 16 Komen memo encouraged their affiliates to discuss the termination of Planned Parenthood with their “donors and constituents.” The fact that they did encourage their affiliates to discuss it shows that Komen didn’t care if the information entered the public domain.
Anyone could have been the AP’s source, let alone Planned Parenthood. Komen itself could have contacted AP, as could their affiliates, their donors, their constituents, anyone.
I am unclear on why you would withhold funds?
Komen earmarks the grant for breast exams to Planned Parenthood.
Nix – look up the definition of fungibility
From a purely practical point of view as a breast cancer organization, if the point of the $ to PP is to help them provide breast health services, then why have the number of those services declined over the time SGK has been providing that funding while abortions at PP have increased over the same time? and SGK is OK with that? if you were giving someone money to do something, and they were doing less and less of what you were giving them money to do, would you keep giving them money?
there is also a great deal of evidence that there is a relationship between abortion and breast cancer, not to mention oral contraceptives and breast cancer – yes, that is a controversial topic, but if you were worried so much about breast cancer, would you fund an organization that does 300,000+ abortions annually, even if the tie is not agreed upon by everyone? and would you go so far as to say publicly that there is no tie when it is not completely certain? and even when you could fund other health care providers to do the same services? and even when the people you are giving $ do not even do anything beyond manual exams? and even if their CEO says on national TV that they do mammograms which is a lie?
Finally, Pro-Life folks do not believe anyone should be supporting PP in their business as the largest abortion provider in the US, and many of us will not support anyone who does
“Even if you can prove it, it doesn’t matter.”
mp’s quote sums up in total what the proabortion comeback is on anything prolife, whether it’s science, civil rights, human experience, or medicine.
It doesn’t matter. Even WHEN we can prove it.
MP! Again: spit out the Kool-Aid. If Komen and Planned Parenthood had an agreement, which confidential sources tell us they did, to be low-key on this and Planned Parenthood opened the day Tuesday with an all-out assault on Komen via an email blast begging for donations to offset the loss, and the AP came to Komen days ahead of this and said Planned Parenthood had given them the story, then Planned Parenthood is the one responsible for the leak; but MORE IMPORTANTLY, Planned Parenthood had a well-orchestrated banshee fit and did a huge amount of fundraising while throwing Komen under the bus and then backing up and driving forward repeatedly for four days. Quack, quack.
You know, using big words does not always make one look so smart.
I think the most important thing that you say is that SGK is giving money to an organization that does nothing for breast cancer research or prevention. “PP doesn’t perform mammograms, nor does it treat women who have been diagnosed with breast cancer.” So why the heck are they giving an organization, whose main purpose is birth control, and providing resources and funding for abortions, any funding of any kind? The two are going along on completely dissimilar paths.
SGK = trying to save lives. PP = trying to destroy life.
They have nothing in common
MoronicProChoiceQuotes: To be clear I do NOT think pro-lifers should donate to SGK… not unless and until they assuredly drop PP as a grant recipient.
Even after that there will be some pro-lifers who think that because SGK at this point does not acknowledge the abortion-breast cancer link or contraception-breast cancer link it still is not worthy of donations. That’s an individual call.
I emailed Komen congratulationg them on their initial decision, but I did convey that I had my doublts about it truly being legit. I told them I prayed it was so. I DID NOT DONATE. I haven’t knowingly given to Komen for years and I have had breast cancer.
Jill,
That’s my position (the second one you mentioned). Same with any other org that supports PP in any way. I don’t trust them, no matter what moves they make in the future. Agree it should be a personal call whether to support them, though. Thanks for all the coverage, I’m sure it’s had it’s Tylenol moments.
The first step in defeating a disease IMO is identifying it’s causes. If Komen’s not willing to look at all causative factors and all data, it’s on them. The local Komen rep here said on the news last night that their decision had nothing to do with PP’s prochoice stance-that’s pretty much all I need to know or ever will need to know about where Komen stands.
Nanato-hope you’re well now? Hugs.
Jill,
The pro-life community erred in the first place by suggesting people donate to SGK for cutting ties with PP when their reason for doing so was not because abortion takes the life of a person but because PP was under criminal investigation. Pro-lifers projected the reason they wanted onto the situation when this was not the reason SGK was giving.