Pink ribbons are cute. They have become really trendy. Everyone has caught on to them too. A couple of airlines wear pink during October, some yogurt companies have pink ribbons on their merchandise, everyone is doing it.
Well, not me. I hate breast cancer. I REALLY hate it. Breast cancer stole one of the most important people in my life from me, my father’s twin sister, my aunt. Both of my grandmothers had breast cancer. My cousin died of breast cancer. Breast cancer is like a terrible virus that keeps sweeping through my family, and like all viruses, you can’t get rid of them. They just keep coming back.
My aunt was an amazing person. She never met a stranger. She loved everyone. She was also pro-life. She LOVED babies. She was one of the most precious people I have ever known. I watched her battle this terrible disease for 9 years. There were highs and lows, but she never gave up. She fought, sometimes with hair, sometimes without. She lost her breasts. She had multiple surgeries. She was always hopeful. Every day was a gift. Her life was a gift.
Now, I know there is lots of debate about the link between abortion and breast cancer. Honestly, I’m not convinced either way. I’m not a scientist, but I love research. I know that for every study that shows a link, I’m able to find one or two that shows there’s no link. I just can’t simply prove that to be fact.
However, here is a fact. Susan G. Komen gave $700,000 in grant money to Planned Parenthood last year. Susan G. Komen is the largest breast cancer research group. Planned Parenthood is the largest abortion provider in our country. It’s worth asking a question. What’s the reason these two groups are partnering together?
Komen says they give this money to Planned Parenthood so women living in rural areas will have access to mammogram services. Really?! Well, here’s the truth about that.
NO PLANNED PARENTHOOD ON THE PLANET PROVIDES MAMMOGRAM SERVICES.
Why, Abby? Well, because they can’t. Planned Parenthood is a level one breast service provider. What does that mean? It simply means that Planned Parenthood clinics are ONLY allowed to provide manual breast exams. Yeah. The same type of breast exam you do in the shower. The same kind you can get from any nurse or physician in any clinic.
Planned Parenthood is not able to provide any sort of diagnostic services. That means, no biopsies, no breast ultrasounds, AND no mammograms. That is the truth. That is a FACT.
Komen contributes in a very large way to the murder of over 320,000 babies each year. Those pink ribbons don’t seem so cute anymore. Komen pays big bucks to make the “pink ribbon” theirs. You may think the pink ribbon stands for breast cancer awareness. That’s not what Komen seems to think. They believe they own it, and they pay for it.
I hear people say, “Well, until breast cancer has affected your family, don’t tell me not to support Komen.” Well, it has affected my family. It has affected us greatly. I still stand against Komen.
Let me be very clear. My aunt valued life very much, but she did not value her life more than the life of any child. She would have given up her life to know that a baby would be saved. For those that continue to support Komen because this disease has affected you or someone you love, this is what you are saying, that you are willing to sacrifice the lives of the unborn for your own.
If you are comfortable with that, then keep donating to Komen. I hope you are not. I hope you will do the right thing. I hope you will stand against this phony organization. Any good they do is blackened by the killing they support.
If you do stand against them, tell them. Don’t just take away your support, let them know. Send an email to your friend’s list and post it on your Facebook page. Post the letter that you will send so your friends can copy yours and send one as well. Send a letter to your newspaper.
Tell everyone you know. Be an activist. Make your voice heard. Don’t think that Komen doesn’t care, they do. They care very much. Komen needs to keep up their good reputation. Don’t let that happen. Expose them for what they are.
More than 320,000 babies are killed EVERY year. Our voice is worth it. No more pink ribbons in my home. My aunt’s memory is worth more than that. I can’t wrap her life up in a ribbon, especially when that ribbon pays to murder children.
Hi,I am a breast cancer survivor and people give me bracelets, earrings etc. in the pink ribbon. I am ashamed to ever wear them again. Thank you for this information. When I donate to an organization I exspect it to be used for that cause. I am very sadned by this. I will not support them in any way until they stop donating to planned parenthood.
For the babies,
Laura Connerty
Abby,In the past, I did write to Komen and to the yogurt company that sponsors them and last year I even wrote to the people in my company who were organizing a fund raiser for Susan G Komen, explaining why I was not supporting them. Doing all that sometimes I got the feeling that it all didn’t make any impact, but I do strongly believe in the power of the public opinion. If hundreds, thousands of people start contacting Komen and the yougurt co. requesting to stop funding PP, the impact is going to be amazing, potentially devastating for Planned Parenthood. Great sharing! Thanks
Thanks for the heads-up on this. Since October is “breast cancer awareness month,” can you suggest other organizations that we could support, which are not linked to Planned Parenthood?
I’ve seen products with pink ribbons on them that say that they’re donating X amount of money to some breast cancer organization that’s not Komen…do we know anything about any of those?
Abby, thank you for this enlightening post. I am so very sorry for the lives your family has lost. Prayers and hugs to you!This post is what I was looking for to post on my blog…I hope you don’t mind, I borrowed it.
I am the secretary for the Council of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul.
Every year on the same Saturday as the Susan G. Komen walk for the cure, we have a Friends of the Poor walk nationwide. We are a Catholic lay organization that reaches out to the poor. 100% of all funds go directly to serve the poor. All members or “Vincentians” as we are called are volunteers. We hold the walk on this day because it coincides with the feast day of St. Vincent de Paul. Each year we struggle to find participants to walk and help the poor in our community because our walk is on the same day as the walk for the cure.
Thank you for standing up for life!! I saw you speak at the Wichita Catholic Conference in August this year…and I want to whole heartedly thank you for what you said. You challenged us to “Do something for Life.” It’s exactly the motivation I needed to hear. May God bless you, Abby!!
Oops, I left off a portion…I am the secretary for the Wichita diocesan council of SVdP…NOT the national secretary..just wanted to clarify.
Thank you for such a great article that explains the problems with Komen so clearly.
AbbyHow does $700,000 dollars translate into 320,000 killed babies. Your math is messed up. I am pro-life. I think abortion is bad and even as a man I would take any baby before i would want it to die. Unfortunatly I am not in those women shoes who find themselves in that place. Also with the money going down for womans health, where else is a poor woman supposed to get the care she needs. I think for every dollar you don’t send I will send $10.
How exactly does the money Planned Parenthood gets from Komen “contribute to the deaths of 320,000 babies every year”? According to Komen, the money they give to Planned Parenthood is a grant that is ONLY to be used for breast care services. So…can you explain how they can take grant money that is supposed to be used for breast care services and use it to provide abortion and contraceptives instead?
From personal knowledge, I know all of the money that Komen contributes goes directly into the general fund. Nothing is deemed for “breast care services.” That is a blatent LIE. In fact., for many years, the president of Komen was on the board for Dallas PP. Don’t believe the Komen hype. They contribute to PP. PP=Abortion.
Abby, if that is true, then that is very disturbing because it goes directly against what Komen claims about their grants. Komen claims that they check on grant recipients twice a year and that recipients who violate Komen’s rules that the money ONLY goes to provide breast health services would be terminated from the grant program. I can see that it is problematic for Komen to give money to Planned Parenthood and I would like to know EXACTLY how they use that money to provide breast health services. Quite honestly, I am not sure who to believe. Obviously, someone is not telling the truth, either intentionally or because they are misinformed. I would really like to see some proof that shows what the truth is.
PP is a level one breast cancer center. There is NO PP clinic on the PLANET that provides any breast cancer service other than manual breast exams…you know, those that you can do in the shower on your own. I would believe the person who WORKED at a PP clinic for 8 years…the person who knows exactly where the money goes…the person who KNOWS the agenda of PP and KOMEN.
Hey Abby!! I posted your article above on my own blog and received the following response:
“The truth about Komen and Planned Parenthood. Someone who just didn’t pass along something that wasn’t true but clicked the footnotes and did research, Editor of the diocesan newspaper has the article on page 10, also quote the Bishop of the diocese who did independent research on the subject.
http://www.diocesealex.org/sites/default/files/docs/ct_9-19-11redacted.pdf
Here are the 2011 recipients in mid-Kansas:
http://www.midkskomen.org/GrantsHome/GrantRecipients/
As you can see, 20 of 122 of the affiliates do provide funds that cover the recipients portion of the service specifically related to breast health. Specific independent affiliates and not in Kansas (PTL!).”
I am curious how you would respond?
Thanks and Blessings!!
Debi
I would say that ANY local affiliate MUST pay dues to the national group. And the national group gives money to PP. Pretty simple to me. Support Komen at ANY level, and support abortion.
I think a key question (and I don’t know the answer) has already been noted above which is; what about all the other organizations that support research etc for breast cancer that use the pink ribbon? There are a lot of them – is there a way to find out if they are contributing to Planned Parenthood??
I am pro-life and would gladly give up my own life for the sake of another, especially an innocent, unborn baby. However, until another company comes along and does half the work that Komen does in the fight against breast cancer, I will continue to support them. I don’t think supporting a company that does so much to fight a disease in which numerous of my family members have become a victim of makes me any less pro-life. I’m positive that God still loves me and always will! I’m positive he knows that I value human life from conception to natural death!By all means, stand up for what you want and believe yourself, but be careful because to accuse people who support Komen as not being pro-life is a very judgmental, un-Christian attitude. I’m not saying you are doing so, but I do hope that your beliefs allow you to stay true to the Christian attitude and not cross the line into judgmentalism. God is the judge- not us.
This is where we have to draw the line. What if all pro-lifers took a stand against Komen? We do not need people who are lukewarm…people who are saying the things that you are right now. We need people who stand FIRM for life…at all times. If we ALL stood against Komen, maybe they would stop giving to PP. As long as there are people who call themselves “pro-life” and continue to give to Komen, they will never stop giving. Period.
Hi, Abby, I loved your book! My in-laws live just off of Rosemary by PP Bryan so this hit so close to home!
I did look up Komen website to check out what they had to say. Of course they say that all the money they give are going to breast exam and in giving money to poor people to pay for mammogram performed at other facilities referred to by PP. They insist that NONE of their money is used for abortion. Well, that’s nice and dandy but do they not realize that because they give money to PP, that helps PP to direct their funds to other things such as ABORTION? just because their money doesn’t DIRECTLY go to abortion, it doesn’t mean it is not helping PP perform abortion or advertise abortion or give abortion counseling. it’s like giving a homeless guy $10 to make sure he bought food. well, because you gave him money to buy food, now he can use all the other money he collected to buy drugs. so you did’t contribute directly to his drug habit, but you did help him buy indirectly. Wake up people. Their excuse is just that:excuse!
I went grocery shopping yesterday and didn’t buy Yoplait yogurt because the the SGK connection.
Thanks again, Abby, for another excellent, informative article that will be linked on my blog today!
Thank you Abby for voicing this to the public. If you are reading this, PEOPLE not only Susan G. Komen but the American Cancer Society is STEALING our money that we give in hopes of research for a cure, gives our money to places like Planned Parenthood. Let’s open our eyes, why with all the donations (billions each year) is there not a cure? Look at POLITICS! I do not give or support any organization like Komen or American Cancer Society and that little pink ribbon is not allowed near me nor my family.
So why has the Susan G Komen Foundation now given in to pressure from right-wing groups and decided NOT to provide breast screening services to poor women??????? Where is their conscience? AND — if Susan were alive today, WHAT would SHE SAY???!!!???