[1]
Susan G. Komen for the Cure are you listening yet?
As a green lifestyle blogger there are many issues that fall well within my purview. The topics I tend to cover are widespread and can run the gamut from toys [2]and food [3]to anything related to health [4]. Women’s health is a topic near and dear to my heart for a number of reasons: I care about my own health, the health of the many women in my life and the health of women in general.
Bad decision
It’s been hard to miss the collective outrage over the past few days directed at Susan G. Komen for the Cure for cutting their funding to Planned Parenthood (they received 680,000 from Komen last year). Planned Parenthood used the funding to pay for breast-screening exams for poor people.
[5]About 12 years ago I ran a race in honor of and alongside a very special friend. It was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. We were all decked out in our pink ribbons listening to the inspirational stories and looking around in awe at the sea of pink. Susan G. Komen was the creator of those pink ribbons, which have taken breast cancer awareness to another level. I’ll have you know I kicked some butt in that race and my friend kicked breast cancer.
I can safely assume that most of us know at least one person afflicted by this disease. Many of those with breast cancer were fortunate to catch it early, thanks to a simple (albeit uncomfortable) mammogram. And now those women are part of a strong and amazing group of survivors. Cutting the Planned Parenthood funding is effectively stripping the option of early detection away from those who have no means.
Truth be told, I really don’t care what the head of Susan G. Komen believes. She has a right to believe that abortion is wrong. What I find appalling is that she is willing to take those beliefs and directly make others suffer and/or possibly die. Victims of cancer don’t really care about politics and cancer sure as heck doesn’t care what you believe.
Lisa Stone of BlogHer [6] said it perfectly:
Just as women are about more than our breasts, so is health care for women about more than abortions. Especially the kind of primary health care that Planned Parenthood has been providing for years to women and children who otherwise couldn’t afford it.
Now the good news is many people, because of the Komen decision, have pulled Komen funding and are donating directly to Planned Parenthood. The hope is Planned Parenthood will ultimately recoup most, if not all of the funding lost.
Komen’s made bad decisions before
The Planned Parenthood funding cut comes after other not so brilliant moves by Komen. Komen’s attorneys have been known to send out [7] letters to groups who were using the language “for a cure” in their fundraisers [8]. Really? Don’t they have anything better to do with their time then to go after piddly little fundraisers? Komen also came under fire for animal testing and experiments [9], which many times led to the animal’s death.
And what was Komen thinking when it released “Promise Me” perfume [10] to raise money for cancer research? The perfume was tested and it was found to contain several ingredients linked to cancer. Say what? Yep cancer causing perfume from an organization working “for a cure”.
If you are looking for ways to help here are a few:
- Stop supporting Susan G. Komen for the Cure.
- GOOD suggests Five Ways to Support Women’s Health for All [11].
- Sign a petition [12] letting Komen know where you stand. You can sign this one too. Or this one [13].
What’s your two cents on the Komen decision?
[Pink ribbon photo used under Creative Commons from SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget [14]/Flickr]