Komen Decision Tragic and Deadly; Komen Official Resigns,
Site Hacked, Planned Parenthood Surges - ColorLines Special
Reports

The Tragic, Craven Undoing of Susan G. Komen for the Cure's Noble Mission

by Akiba Solomon

ColorLines
February 1, 2012

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/bad_politics_thwart_susan_g_komen_foundations_noble_mission.html

Even if radical anti-choice politics didn't motivate Susan
G. Komen for the Cure to discontinue its breast cancer
screening, referral and education grants to Planned
Parenthood, the damage is done all the same.

Before yesterday, the pink ribbon symbolized fundraising
races, individual stories of breast cancer survival and not-
very-attractive merchandise. Now, as far as I'm concerned,
it's synonymous with Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.), the
staunchly anti-choice legislator who last September launched
a sweeping audit of Planned Parenthood's spending and
practices dating back to 1998.

Yesterday a Komen spokesperson told the Associated Press
that the foundation, which has raised more than $1 billion
for breast cancer research, education and prevention, had
simply changed its funding policies to exclude any
organization under investigation by local, state or federal
authorities. But in a widely circulated statement, Planned
Parenthood president Cecile Richards cried foul:

    "Over the past five years, Komen funds have enabled
    Planned Parenthood health centers to provide nearly
    170,000 clinical breast exams and referrals for more
    than 6,400 mammograms. These cancer detection and
    prevention programs saved the lives of women who often
    had nowhere else to turn for care.

    But when anti-choice groups began criticizing the Komen
    Foundation for partnering with Planned Parenthood, the
    foundation ended its support for Planned Parenthood
    health centers. We know our opponents put their ideology
    over women's health and lives. What we never expected is
    that an ally like the Komen Foundation would choose to
    listen to them."

And as Feministing noted yesterday, Komen's new senior vice
president for public policy, Karen Handel, pledged to defund
Planned Parenthood when she was running for Georgia governor
with Sarah Palin's endorsement.

At the center of this debacle are, of course, the poor,
often rural women who rely on the free or low-cost clinical
breast exams, referrals and followup provided by Planned
Parenthood. By Komen's own account, socioeconomic factors
(translation: being po') are likely contributors to the high
breast cancer mortality rates of black and Latina women.
Here's more of the race story, from a very useful Komen fact
sheet:

    White women have a higher rate of developing breast
    cancer than any other racial or ethnic group. However,
    among women under age 40, African Americans have a
    higher incidence of breast cancer than white women. They
    are also more likely to be diagnosed with larger tumors
    than white women.

    Hispanic/Latina women have a lower incidence of breast
    cancer than white women. They are more likely to be
    diagnosed with larger tumors and late stage breast
    cancer than white women.

    When Asian women migrate to the U.S., their risk of
    developing breast cancer increases up to six-fold. Asian
    immigrant women living in the U.S. for as little as a
    decade had an 80 percent higher risk of breast cancer
    than new immigrants.

The last bit about Asian immigrant women is really striking.
Perhaps that's why Komen has funded Planned Parenthood
breast health education programs designed to reach
Vietnamese women in hair and nail salons and other places
where they meet. Is Rep. Stearns going to cover the cost of
this kind of programming now that it's gone?

Anyway, on Twitter, Facebook and Komen's own message board,
I'm seeing calls for pink ribbon boycotts and the firing of
Handel. I don't have a dog in that fight. But like so many
women who believe the politics don't belong in my damn
uterus, that poor women deserve breast healthcare just like
middle class and rich women and that women of color
shouldn't be casualties of war, I'm supremely disappointed
that Komen would risk even the appearance of pandering to
Republicans who refuse to meaningfully fund healthcare and
therefore make Planned Parenthood so necessary. And if Komen
takes a financial hit, I wonder which grants will go first.

[Akiba Solomon writes Colorlines' Gender Matters Blog and is
an NABJ-Award winning writer, freelance journalist, editor
and essayist from West Philadelphia. A graduate of Howard
University, the Brooklyn resident co-edited Naked: Black
Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips, and Other
Parts (Perigee, 2005), an anthology of original essays and
oral memoirs about Black women and body image.

Solomon has been a senior editor for The Source, where she
specialized in politics; the health editor for Essence; and
the senior editor for Vibe Vixen, a women's fashion, beauty
and lifestyle spin-off of Vibe.

She has also written for a range of publications, including
Glamour, Redbook, Vibe, Heart & Soul, POZ and ColorLines. As
a panelist, she has spoken about women's and social justice
issues through the lens of hip-hop culture at a range of
institutions including The Schomburg Center for the Research
in Black Culture, Stanford University, Yale University,
Harvard University and The University of Chicago. ]

==========

Komen Official Resigns, Site Hacked, Planned Parenthood
Surges

by Jorge Rivas

ColorLines

February 2, 2012

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/top_komen_official_resigns_site_was_hacked_and_planned_parenthood_donations_surge.html

The Atlantic is reporting Komen's top public health
official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately
following the board's decision to cut off Planned
Parenthood. The news comes hours after Komen.org was
temporarily hacked and as Planned Parenthood is announcing
they're experiencing a surge in donations.

Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic reports on Williams'
resignation:

    The decision, made in December, caused an uproar inside
    Komen. Three sources told me that the organization's top
    public health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in
    protest immediately following the Komen board's decision
    to cut off Planned Parenthood. Williams, who served as
    the managing director of community health programs, was
    responsible for directing the distribution of $93
    million in annual grants. Williams declined to comment
    when I reached her yesterday on whether she had resigned
    her position in protest, and she declined to speak about
    any other aspects of the controversy.

According to sources close to both Williams and Komen,
"Williams believed she could not honorably serve in her
position once Komen had caved to pressure from the anti-
abortion right."

Donors reacting to Komen's decision to cut off funding to
Planned Parenthood contributed $650,000 in 24 hours, nearly
enough to replace last year's Komen funding, Planned
Parenthood executives told the Washington Post on Wednesday.

Planned Parenthood averages 100-200 donations on any given
day, but when the Komen decision made headlines it received
contributions from more than 6,000 online donors.

"People respond powerfully when they see politics
interfering with women's health," Tait Sye, a spokesperson
for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, told the
Post. "That's why we've seen a tremendous outpouring of
support."

Hackers also made their own contribution early Thursday
morning.

"For the few that accessed the site around 12:30AM on
Thursday, they were redirected from the regular site (
www.komen.org) to an artificial site made by the hackers
(ww5.komen.org). The job was so inclusive that even in
search engines, you were only able to find the hacked site,"
Gather.com reported.

The hackers re-designed a Komen banner ad that promoted its
marathon to read "Help us run over poor women on our way to
the bank."

[Jorge Rivas is multimedia editor and pop culture blogger
for Colorlines.com. A firm believer in the power of visual
communications to inform and move people into action, Jorge
uses multimedia presentations to help readers build stronger
connections to stories. Jorge has covered the public housing
crisis in a post-Katrina New Orleans, the effects of
deportation on families, and brought live images of the
President Obama's inauguration to Colorlines.com readers. ]

==========

Why Komen's Decision to Pull Funding Is So Deadly
[Infographic]

by Jorge Rivas

ColorLines

February 1, 2012

http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/an_illustrated_look_at_why_komens_decision_to_pull_funding_is_so_deadly_infographic.html

African-American women are more likely than all other women
to die from breast cancer. Women of color in general are
more likely to be diagnosed late and die from breast cancer,
due in large part to poor access to early screening and
treatment - which is precisely the type of programs Komen
used to fund at Planned Parenthood.

In a story published earlier today on Colorlines.com, Akiba
Solomon quotes Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards
saying the cancer detection and prevention programs Komen
funded "saved the lives of women who often had nowhere else
to turn for care."

Below is an infographic from our archives that looks at just
how deadly breast cancer is for women of color.

[see multiple graphs and visuals at:
http://colorlines.com/archives/2012/02/an_illustrated_look_at_why_komens_decision_to_pull_funding_is_so_deadly_infographic.html

==========

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