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LMAO!!!! Yuks aside, I think that's the whole problem with the recent attacks on Planned Parenthood. Abortion foes see #1 ABORTION PROVIDER OMG!!! and then go after funding for the whole shebang. Meanwhile, lots of women, even women who are on the fence about abortion, see Planned Parenthood as a place to get a free/cheap pap smear or free/cheap birth control pills. To many women Planned Parenthood is a lifesaver. A lot of people frequented that place at a time when they were broke, or know someone who did, and think anyone who is trying to defund it is the enemy.
It would probably have been better strategically to try to pressure PP into dropping abortion services since everything else it does isn't an issue. Instead, the strategy was to go after the organization as a whole which will play well within hardcore anti-abortion circles, but alienate everyone else including a lot of the people who would otherwise be neutral about it all.
PP is the largest abortion provider in the country. They won't ever drop abortions, it's their biggest money maker.
We thought we could start to donate to Komen again when the first announcement was made but they were shouted down so we won't be donating to them after all. Half may have been outraged but half were estatic.
I admire Handel for trying and now for resigning. She is following her conscience and more should follow her example.
I think she resigned becasue of the controversial PR gaff, not her conscience.
Planned Parenthood gets $300 million dollars a year from the federal government and yet screamed like stuck pigs over a defunding of a few hundred grand. If a small hit to the wallet like that is such a threat to their existence I think maybe they're not managing their budget too well either.
Got a link showing PP screaming like stuck pigs over the defunding?
I believe it was reported in the news that SGK is planning to defund PP. Was that news leaked by PP? Did they send an email to the media? Did it say "oink"?
Well I admire her for trying and I do give her the benefit of the doubt. Many more people should follow their conscience and stand up for it in the work place.
Here's what I want to know: why was Komen giving money to PP for any reason? When I donated to Komen, I meant to donate to them, not to anyone else. If I'd wanted any portion of my Komen donation to go PP, I'd have donated to PP myself. It's not like PP needs any money from Komen.
I don't contribute to any of these types of institutions. They start out full of promise and care but when the money comes rolling in it gets too tempting; they pay themselves a lot of money and learn how to beg effectively. Every year (or maybe twice a year) the company I work for goes all out trying to raise donations for SGK...ugh.
I don't think abortion is the only issue though. More and more, I'm seeing birth control being vilified. I would never have believed it, but it seems to be true.
Oh geesh. That is totally a losing stance, if folks try to attach that to anti-abortion motivations for defunding PP they are dead in the water.
Quote:
Originally Posted by janelle144
PP is the largest abortion provider in the country. They won't ever drop abortions, it's their biggest money maker.
Perhaps, but they are also a non profit with constituents. The way abortion foes are approaching it now is not causing those people to change their minds at all, because they are not going to stand for losing PP in its entirety. I think they'd have a much better shot if they separated attacking PP clinics from attacking abortion when making the case. They'd have a shot of at least getting PP to restrict some of its abortion services.
But for that, people would have to accept the likelihood that PP will never stop completely (as long as abortion is legal) and they won't do that.
The Komen foundation has been so successful because historically they've taken a neutral position on abortion--they attracted support from both pro life and pro choice women because they kept their eyes on BREAST CANCER--finding a cure, funding programs for education, detection and treatment etc. They've enjoyed very broad public support--I don't know many women in my area who haven't participated in one of their fundraisers in some way or another.
They managed to completely blow that position almost overnight by getting involved in the politics surrounding opposition to Planned Parenthood for abortion services, even though Komen has NEVER provided funds for abortion services to PP--strictly for Breast Cancer education and screening for low income women.
I've been an active volunteer for our local race for the cure events since they were started in my area. I'm at very high risk for breast cancer myself--I have a number of women in my family who have died from the disease. I said this on a different post, but when I was very young, broke and without health insurance, I used Planned Parenthood services for cancer screening, cancer education, and other reproductive health care needs. It was a godsend. I'm also republican and moderately prolife (except in cases of rape, incest and the life of the mother). Just because I don't approve of abortion, doesn't mean that Planned Parenthood doesn't provide critically needed services to a broad base of women who could never afford them otherwise. Reproductive health care and cancer screening makes up 97% of PP's services.
Don't kid yourself--that lobbyist resigned because hundreds of thousands of women like me--their supporters--signed pledges saying that we would walk away from the Komen foundation (volunteer hours and contributions) if they continued to play political football with breast cancer screening. If they don't get their house in order and go back to what Komen does well--supporting the search for a cure, and saving lives through early detection--then women like me won't be back. They will lose a huge segment of their donor base.
I'm prolife myself, but throwing cancer screening and treatment into a political debate over abortion, and using it as a political football, is unacceptable. Shame on the Komen foundation. They know better.
If Komen is linked to PP I won't hold my breath if research finds abortion is responsible for breast cancer in some cases. That finding won't ever see the light of day.
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