# Susan G Komen cuts funding to PP **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 1, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413 "2012-02-01T13:08:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 12
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/221 "2012-02-04T03:29:16Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Why not fund other organizations that do not perform abortions? I mean its not like Planned Parenthood is the only women’s health organization in the world. Please read the rest of the thread, and then come back and ask this again if you still don’t understand. Pay particular attention to posts 81-85, 102, 108 and 113. Or you could just go to post 27, where the SGK Foundation actually answers your question themselves (several years ago). ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/222 "2012-02-04T03:29:36Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Why not fund other organizations that do not perform abortions? I mean its not like Planned Parenthood is the only women’s health organization in the world. Why should they refuse to do business with a lifesaving organization because it performs a legal medical procedure for women in need? ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/223 "2012-02-04T03:32:06Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Jacobinists? Forget it, he’s rolling. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/224 "2012-02-04T03:34:32Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > This policy change didn’t come about due to lobbying by Christians or anybody else. Christians and conservatives (and not only Handel) seem to have a different take on that. > [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > And they also help abort hundreds of thousands of babies. Have you read the thread? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/225 "2012-02-04T03:38:29Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Why not fund other organizations that do not perform abortions? I mean its not like Planned Parenthood is the only women’s health organization in the world. Because there is nothing wrong with what PP is doing and I am grateful they do it. I support PP because they will perform abortions for women who need them, among the other things they do for women and families. They are the good guys. And more importantly, SGK funding does nothing but provide breast exams for women’s health. Why shouldn’t they give money to an org that directly achieves what SGK’s mission is. ---
**Author:** ![SnakesCatLady](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4af34b/32.png) [@SnakesCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnakesCatLady)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/226 "2012-02-04T03:51:26Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > Why not fund other organizations that do not perform abortions? I mean its not like Planned Parenthood is the only women’s health organization in the world. For many women and a lot of college students, it’s the only women’s health organization they can afford. Newsflash: Abortion is legal. No one - I repeat in large letters - NO ONE is forcing or encouraging anyone to get an abortion. It is a legal medical procedure provided by some PP clinics for women who have made the decision that they need such a procedure. My last mammogram was borderline; I was instructed to have followups every 6 months. I no longer have health insurance. Guess who wishes there was a PP clinic in her city? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/227 "2012-02-04T04:16:05Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > This policy change didn’t come about due to lobbying by Christians or anybody else. While I don’t think the official line of defunding PP just due to “investigation” is true, I do think its more of a desire for what is an apolitical organization to avoid a vicious political battle. > [@Marley23](#): > > Christians and conservatives (and not only Handel) seem to have a different take on that. …What a bizarre take this is. Out of the blue, SGK just happened to realize that Planned Parenthood is a controversial organization and decided they should do something about it. They made the decision unbidden, weren’t lobbied, and it had nothing to do with the stated goals of someone who recently joined their company or their links to Republicans. It has nothing to do with the fact that Republicans have been pushing harder and harder to make Planned Parenthood synonymous with abortions (John Kyl) and eliminate it. They just woke up and discovered that some people didn’t like it, so they decided to sever their link to it even though the money they send to Planned Parenthood doesn’t fund abortions. Of course rather than discussing the controversial nature of Planned Parenthood and citing their wish to remain nonpartisan, they adopted a new rule about groups under investigation that just happened to apply to Planned Parenthood, which is the subject of a politically motivated investigation. You might think that if they were reallocating their funds because of Planned Parenthood’s abortion activities and because they respect pro-choice and pro-life views and wanted to stay out of the issue, they might just say so. But they didn’t. They made their funding choices, innocent as the undriven snow, and then the feminist harpies came a-lobbying and a-banging on their doors, howling for blood. Yes, this is exactly what happened. It’s so unfair. ---
**Author:** ![SmellMyWort](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SmellMyWort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmellMyWort)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/228 "2012-02-04T05:23:41Z")
I just donated $20 to PP “from Qin Shi Huangdi.” You’re welcome. ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/229 "2012-02-04T06:38:49Z")
> [@Martin\_Hyde](#): > > People die, it’s a natural part of life. I think it’s good for there to be charities that do breast cancer research and awareness and it’s good there are government funded organizations to help control the population of poor people, but I just don’t have any strong feelings about either SGK or PP. I have some causes I care enough about to donate to, medical research just isn’t one of them. I don’t have anything against those that do, although in terms of medicine I’m not sure how important SGK is. They’ve given some $2bn to breast cancer research during its lifetime as an organization. That may seem like a lot but it costs a pharmaceutical company a billion dollars just to develop a slightly different version of cholesterol medication with less side effects that existing drugs, so something as difficult to control as cancer that’s probably a drop in the bucket. Not to say drops don’t matter, as they obviously do, but I just don’t necessarily feel SGK is very important to me or society. > > If I had to rank the two in some way I’d say I’d rather see PP stay operational since they help to suppress the number of societal leaches as they give poor women several different options to avoid having children. So Planned Parenthood is important in a societal way, but even still I’m not a poor woman so I’m not personally invested in their existence. I am a tax payer but I’m at a point now where I’m essentially numb to changes in how much tax I’m paying. Numb is definitely the word… ---
**Author:** ![Bridget\_Burke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7cd45c/32.png) [@Bridget\_Burke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bridget_Burke)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/230 "2012-02-04T06:43:06Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > Apparently a teal ribbon is used to show sympathy for tsunami victims. Great, memorialize their loss by wearing a ribbon that’s the color of the ocean. I say we make gray and white ribbons for shark victims too. Then a Pink Ribbon above the Gray & White one could symbolize SGK Jumping the Shark! ---
**Author:** ![crowmanyclouds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crowmanyclouds/32/19884_2.png) [@crowmanyclouds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/crowmanyclouds)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/231 "2012-02-04T06:56:23Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > … Out of the blue, SGK just happened to realize that Planned Parenthood is a controversial organization and decided they should do something about it. … > [@Marley23](#): > > … the stem cell research groups? If one were of a conspiratorial mind the heat, and smoke, generated by cutting off Planned Parenthood’s $680,000 would be excellent cover to obscure the $12,000,000 they cut from stem cell research given that only hysterical Jacobinist feminists care about all of this. 😉 CMC fnord! Jacobins? :rolleyes: I’ll take the Enragés, long live Jacques Roux! ---
**Author:** ![davidm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/davidm/32/225_2.png) [@davidm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidm)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/232 "2012-02-04T11:58:42Z")
> [@crowmanyclouds](#): > > If one were of a conspiratorial mind the heat, and smoke, generated by cutting off Planned Parenthood’s $680,000 would be excellent cover to obscure the $12,000,000 they cut from stem cell research given that only hysterical Jacobinist feminists care about all of this. 😉 > > CMC fnord! > Jacobins? :rolleyes: I’ll take the Enragés, long live Jacques Roux! And isn’t it quite a coincidence that this is another issue that’s a big deal for the religious right. There’s no agenda here. No siree Bob. All of those research organizations were under governmental investigation and hey, gotta follow our rules. :rolleyes: I’m hoping that people start asking questions about this. I’d love to see their contrived reasons for those cuts. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/233 "2012-02-04T14:27:59Z")
Penn State is under investigation and yet oddly SGK doesn’t seem to have cut off funding to them. Surely this is just an oversight. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/234 "2012-02-04T14:36:19Z")
> [@IvoryTowerDenizen](#): > > It is funding PP because they do well visits including BREAST EXAMS for poor women, which catches breast cancer and saves lives. As I mentioned before, [breasts exams are not that useful for the general population](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_screening). ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/235 "2012-02-04T14:43:52Z")
Does the founder of SGK ever speak? I read that the SGK released the statement… blah blah Some damn publicist blather. I’d like to know what Nancy G. Brinker thinks. Its her foundation. Why isn’t she on CNN defending SGK? ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/236 "2012-02-04T15:15:44Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > As I mentioned before, [breasts exams are not that useful for the general population](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_screening). Your cite also says: > [@](#): > > Many national organizations still recommend it for most older women. … Earlier, more aggressive, and more frequent screening is recommended for women at particularly high risk of developing breast cancer, such as those with a confirmed BRCA mutation, those who have previously had breast cancer, and those with a strong family history of breast and ovarian cancer. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/237 "2012-02-04T15:39:05Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’d like to know what Nancy G. Brinker thinks. Its her foundation. Why isn’t she on CNN defending SGK? The Foundation’s homepage has a “Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker.” Isn’t that speaking? ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/238 "2012-02-04T15:39:24Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > As I mentioned before, [breasts exams are not that useful for the general population](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breast_cancer_screening). While that may be true, women with limited access to healthcare may not know if they are in a sub population at risk until they come in and discuss it and get a baseline exam. So by defunding it, you put another barrier in place for low income women to have that conversation with a doctor. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/239 "2012-02-04T15:42:26Z")
It sounded more like lawyers and publicists carefully nuanced blather. 😛 Not a real woman that created this foundation in honor of her deceased sister.. Fifteen years ago SGK felt like it had a real soul and heartbeat. Still feels that way at the local level. A lot of breast cancer survivors work at the local level. At the top its turned into a faceless corporate entity. > [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The Foundation’s homepage has a “Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker.” Isn’t that speaking? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2012, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413/240 "2012-02-04T15:50:29Z")
Of course it’s a corporation, the same way that Apple is no longer two guys named Steve in a Palo Alto garage. That’s inevitable. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413.md?page=11) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/susan-g-komen-cuts-funding-to-pp/611413.md?page=13)