As the Susan G Komen Foundation’s “Race For the Cure” June 16 event in St Louis approaches, the usual festivities this year are somehow less festive. Many in St Louis are now uneasy about supporting the Komen event, as the relationship between the Komen Foundation and Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, has become common knowledge.

Komen sponsored grants totaled over $475,000 to Planned Parenthood last year.

The “Respect Life Apostolate”, an organization of the St Louis Catholic Archdiocese, has formally issued a statement of non-support for the Komen effort. The statement, as shown on their website, begins:

The Respect Life Apostolate of the Archdiocese of St. Louis acknowledges the beneficial work of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, formerly known as the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, in the area of breast cancer detection, prevention, research and treatment. Due to its policy allowing affiliates to offer financial support to abortion providing facilities and its endorsement of embryonic stem cell research, the Respect Life Apostolate neither supports nor encourages participation in activities that benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure. (emphasis mine).

Other church groups, conservative organizations, pro-life organizations and pro-life individuals have all withdrawn support financially and will not participate in Komen events for as long as the grants from Komen to Planned Parenthood continue.

Businesses, too, are severing ties with Komen. When Komen stated they would not stop providing grants to Planned Parenthood, CURVES, the fitness franchise owned by Gary Heavin (who is strongly pro-life), stopped supporting Komen events. For their part, Komen has defended the grants as part of their community outreach, stating that Planned Parenthood has a good infrastructure to disseminate valuable breast cancer detection information. They express no regret for nor intent to change the grant funding to Planned Parenthood.

Interestingly, the Komen organization provides no information about the reported link between post-abortive women and breast cancer risk. This seeming conflict of interest has cost Komen some staff too:

Eve Sanchez Silver, a Latina woman who was once a popular speaker and Latina adviser for Komen, resigned from Komen last year after learning about the organization's unsavory relationship with PP, as well as Komen's failure to warn women about overwhelming evidence of an abortion-breast cancer link (evidence dating to the publication of the first study by Segi and his colleagues in the journal GANN in 1957). - www.abortionbreastcancer.com

The Komen Foundation is to be lauded for their excellent work in bringing breast cancer awareness to the fore. One must have lived under a rock in a cave on a desert island to not now know of the Komen Foundation, the Race for the Cure, or the meaning of a pink ribbon. They have done much to further the cause of breast cancer research. For that, they should be commended.

Komen's committment to continue funding Planned Parenthood will hurt the organization, however. There are a number of other organizations also funding breast cancer awareness and cure research, without the connection to Planned Parenthood. Komen should not be surprised if large volumes of cash get re-routed through these organizations rather than through the Race for the Cure or the Komen organization.

For more information, please see the following sites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_G._Komen_for_the_Cure

http://www.stlrespectlife.org/KomenfortheCure.html http://curvers.squarespace.com/the-latest/2004/05/18/the-susan-g-komen-breast-cancer-foundation-and-planned-parenthood.html

http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/news/051116/index.htm

http://www.lifenews.com/nat3007.html http://www.citizenlink.org/CLBriefs/A000004246.cfm

Copyright © 2007 by Doug Edelman

Doug Edelman is a conservative political commentator and a contributing editor for The Conservative Voice. His work is also seen on News By Us, The American Daily, The Post Chronicle, New Media Journal, Capitol Hill Coffee House etc. For the support of his family, however, he is also an IT Consultant/Contractor and owner of a Computer Services Business. He has taught PC Maintenance & Repair and Networking at his local Community College, and maintains a blog at http://edeldoug.blogs.com/.