Then, last year, a dear friend of mine friend participated in one of the Susan G. Komen three day walks in memory of her aunt who died of breast cancer a couple of years ago. She sent out an email to raise money so that she could participate, and I was faced with a dilemma. I decided to take the easy way out and simply ignore the email rather than discuss my concerns with my friend. I was worried that it would be an emotionally charged conversation, and I elected to avoid it. I felt like I was letting her down since she had a personal stake in what she was trying to do, but
I just wasn't comfortable donating money when I wasn't sure if some of that money might end up in the hands of the abortion industry. My friend never mentioned it, and she did raise the $1800 necessary for her to participate in the walk.
Then, a year later, over this past weekend, she mentioned the walk, and she and my other friend had a long discussion about the overall experience and how powerful something like that is, etc. I finally gathered my courage, and stated my concerns about where the money was going, and I was met with a matter of fact response that the money was specifically going to Planned Parenthood for breast health services, and that it had nothing to do with abortions. She also said that most of the concern was based on rumors, and she said that one diocese even apologized for jumping to conclusions.
I didn't really have an argument for this, but upon coming home, I did a little research of my own, and I came across some interesting information.
On the Susan G Komen website, this letter addresses their Planned Parenthood connection, and they make the case for only funding breast health services etc. However, my concern is that since Komen is funding these services, it would seem to free up money in the budget to be used for abortion and distribution of contraception.
The second half of the letter goes on to perpetuate the claim that there is no link between abortion and breast cancer. They name several sources including the National Cancer Institute, Harvard, etc, and while these names sound impressive, they fail to mention that there is more to the story.
There is evidence to suggest that the abortion breast cancer link is very real, and the studies being cited by Komen and others are flawed.
This link takes you to a story on LifeSite News with a video series that explains the link in detail. It is a very convincing argument based on basic biology and scientific fact.
The Breast Cancer Prevention Institute also has a lot of information on the link, and it put together this basic one page explanation of the abortion breast cancer link.
All that said, I think that it is an ongoing struggle to avoid supporting abortion these days. Our tax dollars are now funding them overseas, and very soon, the health care bill will be funding them in a round about way. This is all in addition to the many many companies that donate to Planned Parenthood. Chase bank, Whole Foods, Target, Nike, Johnson and Johnson, Proctor and Gamble, Bank of America, Marriott, Sonic (sorry girls...), and the list goes on....
I have patronized 6 of those companies in the last month... so am I being inconsistent by not supporting Susan G. Komen? Possibly...
However, perhaps it shouldn't, but for some reason Komen bothers me more because they are supposed to be advocates for women's health, but it seems to me that they are clearly making some grave errors in this quest.
Thoughts?
Sonic?? Target??? Say it isn't so!!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you 100% on this one Megan. We don't support Komen for the same reason. You're reasoning that it just frees up money for other areas is completely accurate. But I too struggle that I'm still supporting PP indirectly when I shop at my favorite store or buy a butterfinger blast. I do agree that there is a unique irony that this "charity" is supposed to be about health services and donates to PP. For that reason, I think it it more important to deny funds to these types of organizations.
And another point that always frustrates me is this: why is a CHARITY giving money to other CHARITIES (not that PP is really a charity..) If I donate my money to Komen then I am wanting to donate to breast cancer research and prevention for KOMEN! I don't understand how organizations like these give money to other organizations. They must not need the money that badly if they are giving it away to others.
There are lots of other charities that are pro-life that we can direct our money to. However, it is sometimes very difficult to shop at places that are 100% pro-life. In my town, Wal Mart is the only place you can buy socks, for example. I'm not saying this completely excuses the behavior, but I do think we need to be gentle on ourselves and not spend all of our time and energy buying things only from places that don't support PP. But choosing another charity doesn't take much time or energy at all.
I hope I made at least a little bit of sense.....
I was upset to hear of this connection too. I don't have to deal with too many uncomfortable face to face encounters, but I do have an email response for those that solicit donations from me. I use it to educate them about where the money goes and also about the abortion/breast cancer connection. There are places that support breast cancer reasearch that one can donate too. But I also get annoyed at all the products I use that have special packaging during this time telling me that part of my product money goes to support Susan G. Komen. It's as if they are the only organization out there! I should write them, but I don't. Sigh. Thanks for letting people know about this very important issue.
ReplyDeleteMy sister-in-law solicited us for donations as she ran this year. She is an ex-Catholic. We kindly sent an email to her, explaining why we couldn't give money to Komen, and we included all the right links, etc. We didn't expect her to change her mind, but we were surprised that she never even responded to our email and information. Sigh. It's a very uncomfortable thing. Thank the Lord, our bishop has come out against funding Komen.
ReplyDeleteThis was always a stuggle for my DH, too, b/c he is always asked to participate in a group run for a friend's team and he always has to decline.
ReplyDeleteThank you thank you thank you for this post! I have been looking for these resources for a long time, but too lazy to find them myself! The Susan G Komen bothers me a lot more too. Not sure why. I guess I feel like it's possible to completely not give to this foundation where it is MUCH harder to avoid giving anything to people like Proctor & Gamble. March of Dimes also supports PP which bothers me most because they are all about helping babies! Thanks for stopping by and following my blog. I'm glad I found yours!
ReplyDeleteYes, my husband had to tell his business partner the same thing. Very uncomfortable. It is so difficult not to patronize these other companies...also, I believe Starbucks is a big contributor of gay rights activities...sniff. Thanks for standing up for Truth. If we all do it - maybe it will make a difference. Sigh.
ReplyDeleteI've had to tell my friends the same thing. They respected it but they still participated.
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