I'm doing 21 things
No, this isn’t deja vu of the previous “What’s wrong with this picture?”. What’s wrong is that these women should never have had to stand up in support for Planned Parenthood to protest the cutting of funds by the Susan G Komen Foundation.
I really didn’t pay that close attention when the Susan G Komen Foundation announced that they were cutting breast exam funds to Planned Parenthood, but the more I read about it, the more sickening it was to find out the details.
Over the past five years, the Komen organization has given Planned Parenthood health centers the funds to provide nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams to low-income and uninsured women, but as many people know, Planned Parenthood has been in the sights of the right wing because abortion is one of the many services Planned Parenthood provides to women.
Based on what I read, this seems like a premeditated ill-conceived plot to get at Planned Parenthood. First, they introduced as part of the Susan G Komen charter that funds would be blocked to any organization being investigated by any local, state, or federal authorities.
Then, Craig Stearns (Republican-Fl) launched an investigation on whether Planned Parenthood was using federal funds for abortions, which is not allowed by law except in certain emergency situations, like the life of the mother. Note that there has never been any proof of wrong-doing by Planned Parenthood, but because of this investigation, then Susan G Komen Foundation determined that they should block the funding to Planned Parenthood, even though the funds for breast exams has nothing to do with abortions.
Stearns has 20 years experience in Congress and from the referenced article “Over such a long period, his political opponents inevitably called him a number of negative things. Among them, ‘bully’ might be the easiest to print.”
It seems like a big instigator of what happened was recently resigned Susan G Komen Foundation VP Karen Handel. Who is Karen Handel? She ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia but lost in the Republican primary. She was endorsed by Sarah Palin.
It’s a sad day in history when women’s health is used as a pawn by people pushing their political agenda.
Note that when the announcement that Susan G Komen Foundation was cutting funds, most Republican presidential candidates supported their decision.
Only my opinion, but I think this political landscape emboldens people to push their political agenda and views upon other people. The only way this will stop if we stop emboldening these people by stop voting similar-minded people into office.
