In response to last week's post here, "The Fight Against Breast Cancer Deserves Better: Komen Foundation Continues To Partner with Planned Parenthood," Claire wrote to the organization. I print below their response. It's a courteous letter but completely unapologetic about Komen's involvement with the nation's largest abortion company, Planned Parenthood.There are other interesting items in the Komen response too. Among them is the use of "two Catholic ethicists" to try and prop up their partnerships with Planned Parenthood. Of course, organizations like Komen only trot out religious spokesmen and treat them as respected, reliable authorities when they carefully agree with the organization's aims.
Furthermore, the fellows cited are notorious for liberalizing Catholic teaching. For instance, they've defended the callous practices that resulted in the death of Terri Schiavo and Hamel has so distorted Church teaching that he urges Catholic hospitals to "treat" rape victims by giving them abortifacient chemicals! No wonder Komen sought out these kind of "ethicists."
You'll also notice that the Komen letter goes out of its way to pour cold water on the links between abortion and breast cancer. One wonders why they would even bring the issue up since Claire's letter concerned only the disgusting partnership between Komen and a business that daily destroys the lives of thousands of girls and boys. But simple denials are not a sufficient answer to the established scientific evidence...evidence that can be explored further right here.
Dear Claire,
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 is 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, Komen Affiliates will continue to fund the facilities that meet that need. Susan G. Komen for the Cure headquarters has never granted funds to Planned Parenthood.
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 www.komen.org.
More detailed information is on our web site at 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.
Jamie Benton for Eric Winer, M.D. Chief Scientific Advisor
Susan G. Komen for the Cure®
In Claire's follow-up letter to the organization she quotes Judie Brown's analysis of Komen's justification of their involvement with Planned Parenthood:
...Or to put it another way, if organization A (Komen) can make a claim of doing good and helping the bad organization B (Planned Parenthood) do some good at the same time, then all the bad the bad organization is doing can be ignored and the fundraising for organization A can continue without question. The good outweighs the evil.
If I take this argument to its logical conclusion, then one can assume that collaboration with an evil enterprise is acceptable because "cooperation" with the evil B is involved in is not direct cooperation. But isn't it?
If Komen provides, for example, a $100,000 grant to Planned Parenthood of Anytown, USA, then wouldn't it be possible for the grant to free up $100,000 of Planned Parenthood's existing funds, to provide other services? Could that mean more money for sex education, birth control for minors without parental consent or for marketing abortion to expectant mothers?
Can all the good in the world that A is doing outweigh the murder of even one preborn child – be it a one-day-old preborn or a six-month-old preborn – that B is committing? Can we tolerate a little evil now for a promised larger good later? Should any organization hold hands with evil?
Throughout my experience with moral theologians who take pages and pages to explain something that is questionable, it has always been my opinion that a simple yes or no would be a whole lot better.
In the case of Komen and its alliances with Planned Parenthood, given my non-degree in moral theology, I say no to Komen, no to collaboration with Planned Parenthood on any level – just plain no!
