Planned Parenthood

[corbie]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/01/susan-g-komen_n_1247262.html

Komen just lost any support I might have ever thought of. They call is race for the cure.

http://www.cancer.gov/newscenter/pressreleases/2007/breastincidencedrop/print

They actually know what causes a lot of the breast cancer but do not seem to want to address it. There are other causes that can make the rates go down  more.  I called the national organization once about the one in 9 scare tactics and it is funny. If you call an organization they will generally tell you the truth.

I was told that the 1 in 9 is a metaphor, not reality. That if you were ever diagnosed with fibrosisictc breasts, you are now in the cancer statistics. She told me that their intent was to scare women.

Anyway. I give to charity 8 times a year. Since the debacle with the shoes and the woman who was maybe or maybe not giving my money to a charity in India, I have been just going with whatever feels right on those 8 days. Animals, an herb website, BollyWhat? etc. Today is Lughnasadh and so today it went to Planned Parenthood.

[corbie]

http://news.yahoo.com/study-proves-80-old-grandfather-correct-deodorant-may-232200422.html

I have been saying this also for 40 years. I am on a tear this morning! I just challenged everyone on Reddit to donate to Planned Parenthood! I have been using pareben free products since the 70's.

[prahajess]

Komen just lost any support I might have ever thought of. They call is race for the cure.

I'm supremely saddened by this news. Really, really depressed, actually.

[Manturo]

This is really hard. They risk losing funding for breast cancer research if they don't stand by their guidelines to not fund organizations that are currently being federally investigated.

But honestly, I don't think this will stop Planned Parenthood's goals. There are too many people who are rich and pro-choice. The publicity might have the opposite effect: large donations from the George Soros' et al of the world.

Honestly, if you want to stop abortions, you have to support contraception. If we had publicly funded contraception - the kind that you can't forget to take - then millions of abortions wouldn't happen.

[corbie]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/04/colbert-komen-cure-cancer_n_804233.html

I love colbert, he is a god!

I so agree. If you don't want abortions, make sure there is LOTS of contraception.  So many of the very young  girls I have talked to are not using it because it is getting through to them that this is bad. They have children with no father who will help and then wonder where the support went. It seems to me the righteous republican christians do not care if the mother and baby die, just protect that fetus!

I had heard that a lot of the money went for lawsuits. I guess it is true. isn't the whole purpose to help women?? Not protect a brand name!

http://latino.foxnews.com/latino/health/2011/08/01/birth-control-must-be-covered-by-health-insurance-government-says/

A step in the right direction. Viagra is covered!

[corbie]

http://www.theatlanticwire.com/national/2012/02/susan-g-komen-foundation-website-was-hacked-last-night/48192/

Funny!

[corbie]

http://motherjones.com/mojo/2012/02/komen-foundation-gave-75-million-grant-penn-state

I just can't stay away from this story!

[Manturo]

This is really hard. They risk losing funding for breast cancer research if they don't stand by their guidelines to not fund organizations that are currently being federally investigated.

But honestly, I don't think this will stop Planned Parenthood's goals. There are too many people who are rich and pro-choice. The publicity might have the opposite effect: large donations from the George Soros' et al of the world.

Honestly, if you want to stop abortions, you have to support contraception. If we had publicly funded contraception - the kind that you can't forget to take - then millions of abortions wouldn't happen.

Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, responding to the controversy over a breast cancer advocacy group that cut off most of its grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening, said Thursday that he would make up a large part of the missing money.
http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/02/bloomberg-to-give-250000-to-planned-parenthood/?partner=rss&emc=rss

[corbie]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20120203/D9SLSUPO0.html

I simply do not understand why they are against birth control AND abortion. I have read the bible, even though I am not and have not been a Christian since I was 11. I know it says be fruitful and multiply and don't waste seed, but I still don't get it. I think we multiplied enough. We are drowning in our own poisons. (Every sperm is sacred! Monty Python)

I see it as a bunch of men trying to keep women subjugated. That is in the Bible. I simply fail to see how a gay or a woman can be a Christian or a Republican.

When I was in my 20's and wanted to stay away from chemicals even then, I went to a class that advertised "natural" birth control. It turned out it was a Catholic group to teach the rhythm system and abstinence. The teacher had 9 kids. When Viagra is no longer covered by insurance and womens parts become as sacred as men's willies, maybe I will take some of these people seriously!

[mainhoonemily]

RE: being against birth control AND abortion, I think the assumption is that access to birth control = more fornication, and that women wouldn't need abortions if no one was having sex outside of marriage.  (I'm NOT saying this is how I think, but that's my understanding of the viewpoint of people who do think that way.)

Natural family planning/no contraception even within marriage is more a Catholic thing than a Protestant thing, I think, since most Protestants I know have more of a "what you and your husband decide to do about children is your business" stance.

[omlick]

Komen has just backtracked its dumb decision.  I think though its reputation will remain tarnished indefinitely and liberals will be suspicious of its right wing inclinations.

[Darshana]

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2012/02/03/us/politics/03reuters-usa-healthcare-komen.html?hp

The Komen Foundation has reversed itself here, thank goodness - on behalf of the women who would not get breast cancer screenings.  Meantime the whole business has definitely put the foundation under serious scrutiny, so they have their work cut out for them in preserving their own funding base. 

I have read commentary that says that the whole business about not funding things that are under investigation is not very convincing, as apparently anyone who follows these things can see that the "investigation" of PP has been instigated by parties with political agendas, and not by someone with a more authentic concern about their ethics.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2011/11/planned-parenthood.html

And here is a link to an excellent New Yorker article about the history of Planned Parenthood, and the movement to make contraception available to all women, especially poor women.  Still so shocking to me that in my own lifetime there were still laws in place that made the sale of contraceptives of all kinds illegal.

[Darshana]

Komen has just backtracked its dumb decision.  I think though its reputation will remain tarnished indefinitely and liberals will be suspicious of its right wing inclinations.

I think you are right, and insofar as they have done good work in supporting breast cancer research (and I haven't researched this, so I don't know, but of course currently people are peering into closets and under beds to find and magnify and squiggliness in the Komen organization), a further loss for women and their health is a possibility if their funding dries up.  I do think they will lose a huge number of people who participated in their widely publicized marathons.

On the "bright" side though maybe - maybe a light will go on for some people if they see, through this gaffe, how deep the hatred of women and disturbance about sex goes in some circles, to the extent that an anti-sex motive motivated an organization to take an act which is so easily seen as being "against" fighting breast cancer.  I.e. maybe seeds of doubt will be planted or watered in some women or men who care about them.

ETA: http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/03/cancer-group-backs-down-on-cutting-off-planned-parenthood/#postcomment

The comments on the NY Times announcement of this news - usually worth a read I find, some intelligent people who know things usually turn up.

[corbie]

I helped crash their site yesterday 

Unless they stop also suing for people using the phrase "for the cure" I hope they stay crashed. That is not what you use donated charity money for.

I read a horrible article from the Christian press on how happy they are the liberals are going to be gone and we can all go back to fighting abortion. I still do not get it.

I know a one woman who sais if men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament! If they cared about what happened to the mother and child after the birth, I might feel different.

And what right do these people have to tell others how to live their lives   My recent fight with a couple of male Christians was all about why do they hate women so much? All they wanted to talk about was theology and how I was going to go to hell if I didn't believe as them. I still do not understand the deep hatred of women. And why do women go along with it?

That was my first step in being a non Christian. I was a child and being told I am inferior and evil due to Eve's sin. NOT!

http://www.lifesitenews.com/blog/komen-officials-quite-as-charity-buried-under-tens-of-thousands-of-e-mails

I read we must stop being polarized and work together. How can we work together when they are taking away our rights, freedoms, and telling us how to live? How does someone else's lifestyle threaten mine? How does gay marriage threaten my marriage?

MUST stop reading all this. I did donate to Planned Parenthood.

[Darshana]

Okay Corbie, you're my inspiration, I signed up for a monthly donation to PP today too - I have donated to them in the past but hadn't been consistent.

[Manturo]

Regarding my earlier point:

But honestly, I don't think this will stop Planned Parenthood's goals. There are too many people who are rich and pro-choice. The publicity might have the opposite effect: large donations from the George Soros' et al of the world.

NY Times article: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/04/health/policy/komen-breast-cancer-group-reverses-decision-that-cut-off-planned-parenthood.html?ref=health

Planned Parenthood had raised nearly $3 million in donations for its breast cancer program this week from more than 10,000 people, including “a lot of folks who were small donors and who were former patients” and “a lot of folks that we had never heard from before.” She said the money would be devoted entirely to breast cancer services and would allow Planned Parenthood to significantly expand the breast cancer screenings and education it already provides.

$3 million is 4 times the original $700,000 grant.

Planned Parenthood can sustain itself without Komen just with this kind of publicity.

I really foresee them having to go to the private funding route given the large portion of federal grant making being in the hands of Republicans, who are traditionally, anti-abortion and anti-contraception.

They rail against welfare mothers: don't want them having babies? Put some Norplant in them. That will prevent abortions, right? 

[Darshana]

I've been reading opinions (specifically on Emily Yoffe's page on Facebook) saying that most of what Komen does is raise "awareness," and that this is probably not worth much anymore, people are aware of breast cancer now. 

But if PP manages to get some its patients who go there for other things to also get cancer screenings, that is important.

Anyhow - PP stands for things I 100% care about.  Women's reproductive rights and health.  Till very recently, not even legel to talk about (read my New Yorker link above), let alone do anything about.  Apparently once again in danger.

[corbie]

I think they want abstinence for women unless married. Not men, their willies are too sacred. But that doesn't work. the hormones are too strong when people are young. And they guys won't take responsibility or take off if they get married too young. It is a mess.

The guys are slaves to their hormones and if there is no birth control, then the babies come. Young girls want love, young boys want sex.

I have to tell something else. I do Astrology etc. I used to have two clients who were prostitutes. You know when the biggest week for prostitutes is in Denver? Promise Keepers week! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Promise_Keepers

I just have no respect for these hypocrites!

I was too active in the 60's. I just can't seem to stop with the activism, be it this or food or whatever! So if I ever am gone with no explanation, I was probably dragged away in the night!

[omlick]

I've been reading opinions (specifically on Emily Yoffe's page on Facebook) saying that most of what Komen does is raise "awareness," and that this is probably not worth much anymore, people are aware of breast cancer now. 

But if PP manages to get some its patients who go there for other things to also get cancer screenings, that is important.

Anyhow - PP stands for things I 100% care about.  Women's reproductive rights and health.  Till very recently, not even legel to talk about (read my New Yorker link above), let alone do anything about.  Apparently once again in danger.

Mike Malloy says that what Komen does is "infantilize" breast cancer by supplying pink ribbons and pink teddybears.  What the heck is that about?

It is just more people making big bucks off of a terrible disease.  I packed Komen in years ago, espeically after I heard that Senator Lieberman's wife was a paid employee of theirs.  Remember Lieberman held the Democrats hostage until they did away with the public option for healthccare. 

Another thing is that after all these  years of "walks and races for the cure" there is no real progress on the cure.  How much does Komen give to the research.  I know they get a lot of money from the drug companies. 

[omlick]

Also, Karen Handel the Vice President of Public Relations at Komen is actually a right wing anti aborition anti birth control religious right winger.  She is a failed gubernatorial candidate out of Georgia who got a job at Komen.  I hope they are glad they hired her, she has singlehandedly destroyed them in less than a year since she has been there.

The way I see this is  that this is just one thing in the continuing war on women.    This is just one of many ongoing attacks on women's privacy and just privacy in general by the religious right.

[omlick]

But the real irony is mammograms have not increased mortality rates in women who have the type of cancer that have a poor prognosis.  This means that mammograms tend to find cancers that are not life threatening which are then treated aggressively when they may have resolved on their own.  On the other hand when the mammogram finds the type that tends to metastisize, those women do nt have any advantage mortality wise than those who did not get their cancer detected by a mammogram.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
“This phenomenon is largely attributable to mammography,” according to the New York Times article: “The number of women with breast cancers with the worst prognosis, those that spread to other organs, had been fairly constant in the years before mammography was introduced, and that trend did not change after the introduction of mammography.”

Clearly, Dr. Kramer was suggesting that early detection had failed to live up to its promise. “If screening worked perfectly,” the article continues, “every cancer found early would correspond to one fewer cancer found later. That, he (Kramer) said, did not happen. Mammography, instead, has resulted in a huge new population of women with early stage cancer but without a corresponding decline in the numbers of women with advanced cancer.” The modest size of the reductions in later stage cancers and the unchanged status of metastatic disease are troubling. It appears that the early-detection approach to reducing cancer mortality fails to take into account the reality that some tumors are so aggressive that even the earliest detection will fail to eradicate them, while others are so indolent that it seems to make little difference if they are found before they become palpable. The burden of advanced breast cancer shows no real sign of abating, and is likely to continue and even increase as treatments prolong life.

[corbie]

I knew about this about mammograms. Also, like I said eaelier, they know how to prevent a lot of it, but won't print it or nobody wants to give up there pills, deodrant, soda  etc.

Part of the problem is we are so slammed with health advice and what to eat or not eat people can't believe what they read. And so  much of it is wrong. I threw out my microwave BECAUSE the fda said it is safe! I just went back to a diet my 4 90 year old greatgandmothers ate, and my two 90 year old grandmothers ate! All in their 90's when they died. All over weight!  A fascinating article. I think I posted it before. http://www.drcranton.com/nutrition/oiling.htm

They have completely  backpedaled. But I think the damage is done. I can't even think about supporting a charity that sues other charities with donated money!

[omlick]

Most of Susan Komen foundation is just name brand.  Only about 25% of funds raise go to actual research.  The rest probably goes to marketing and high executive salaries and suing anyone who wants to use the color pink.  They have been around for about 30 years and like I said mortality rates for the aggressive breast cancers remain about the same.  So here is my question when it comes to Komen, like the old Wendy's commercial "where's the beef?"

[Spencer]

If you want to find out what a nonprofit does with the money, go to http://guidestar.org/.

Komen uses of a lot their funding for expenses - very high salaries/benefits, etc not for actual research and health services.

[Darshana]

I've learned a lot today by reading comments on this thing in a few places.

I don't want to be unfair to Komen - their original mission I think was to raise awareness of breast cancer, and at one time, not so long ago, this was a very new and important thing to do.  No one talked about it - talking about the breasts of women was something you just did not/could not do, and the idea of someone losing a breast was made massively more traumatizing and unthinkable because of that.  

I would guess that the "infantilization" of the idea of "the breast" was really the effort, with the friendly pink ribbons etc, to intentionally de-sexualize the breast so that people could talk about it, think about it, and become much more able to do everything they could in order to catch the disease early and get treated for it.  With this
came a de-stigmatization of the illness.

Definitely there was a time period in our cultural history where spending money on awareness was extremely crucial.

All very very very important, I would say - but online some people have been talking about this too, that people are now "aware," people do do breast exams or have them done by doctor, and go for mammograms.  

And of course for me - if the anti-sex brigade is running that show, I am very sad to hear it.  I wasn't their supporter anyhow, but I wasn't considering being their enemy till now.