Visual source: Newseum
The New York Times:
With its roster of corporate sponsors and the pink ribbons that lend a halo to almost any kind of product you can think of, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation has a longstanding reputation as a staunch protector of women’s health. That reputation suffered a grievous, perhaps mortal, wound this week from the news that Komen, the world’s largest breast cancer organization, decided to betray that mission. It threw itself into the middle of one of America’s nastiest political battles, on the side of hard-right forces working to demonize Planned Parenthood and undermine women’s health and freedom.
The Los Angeles Times:
The Komen decision will probably prompt more attacks on Planned Parenthood, which has long provided low-cost medical care to women in need. If Komen loses a significant portion of its donor base, funding for breast cancer research and treatment will be affected, and for a long time Komen's name will be connected more with ugly politics than with pink ribbons. In the end, it's women in need of medical care who stand to lose the most.
The Chicago Sun-Times:
We question the merits of the policy — why not wait until Congress finishes its work before meting out punishment? — and worry it will encourage witch hunts.
We also reject the notion, asserted by Komen, that the hand of politics isn’t at work here. [...]
This move does not take Komen out of the abortion wars, as it likely hoped. It doesn’t help prove that its grant making is “not about politics,” as the organization argues.
Instead, Komen has put itself in the middle of the abortion debate, splitting its loyal supporters and distracting from its vital work of battling breast cancer.
The Mercury News:
The Susan G. Komen Foundation revealed its true colors Tuesday, and there wasn't a hint of its trademark pink in sight. Komen put red-state, right-wing politics above low-income women's health, pure and simple, with its decision to stop giving money to Planned Parenthood to pay for breast cancer screenings.
It could be the most cowardly act by a health foundation in U.S. history.
St. Louis Today:
Komen's sudden shift puts it on a slippery slope. After nearly 10 years of supporting it financially, will Komen now denounce research into the possible roles of adult and embryonic stem cells in breast cancer progression and treatment? Will Komen withdraw its research-based policy statement, posted on its website as of Wednesday afternoon, that abortions do not increase the risk of breast cancer?
Breast cancer cells do not care about the income streams, social standing, political beliefs, ideological credos or geographic locations of the people whose tissues they attack or the people who care for them. Neither should Komen.
The Courier-Journal:
The demonization of Planned Parenthood continues. Last year, it weathered withering barrages, and campaigns of misinformation, by elected officials in Washington and throughout the country that sought to strip the women’s health organization of its government funding.
Abortion was at the epicenter of that nasty fight, even though only 3 percent of Planned Parenthood’s services deal with abortion, and no federal funds are used for that medical procedure. [...]
Now, more than ever, Planned Parenthood needs its allies to stand with it. The services it provides go well beyond family planning; indeed, for some women, it is their primary source of low-cost or no-cost health care. Surely that is a mission almost everyone can and should support, especially in light of the Komen defection.
The Sacramento Bee:
Few people believe the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation when its leaders say they cut off funding for Planned Parenthood because that organization was under congressional investigation. Why should they?
As is increasingly clear, one of the nation's most high-profile and successful breast cancer charities has either succumbed to pressure from anti-abortion activists, or become part and parcel of that alliance.
Laura Sessions Stepp:
While mammograms and biopsies are referred out to other doctors at low or no costs, Planned Parenthood physicians oversee the cases. Women also learn in the clinics how to examine their breasts for cancer.
Without Planned Parenthood and similar organizations, the people most in need of this care would be the least likely to get it. This is not the America I know.
Petula Dvorak:
The Virginia Senate passed a bill Wednesday requiring women who are about to have a legal abortion to get an ultrasound first. The woman is supposed to be shown the image and will have to sign a waiver if she chooses not to take a look. [...] This legislation is nothing but bullying. And the biggest bully on the playground this week wore pink. The Susan G. Komen Foundation, in a thinly veiled attack on abortion, withdrew its funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings. [...] Churches in Virginia and other parts of the country have kicked out Girl Scout troops after a virulent smear campaign linking them to an international scouting association and every single reference either group has ever made to Planned Parenthood. [...]This is insanity. And all of it threatens things that are good – even vital – for women. Meanwhile, the work that needs to be done to help prevent unwanted pregnancies – real sex education and easy access to birth control – is being marginalized.
Gin & Tacos:
You should not have a low opinion of Komentm because of their announcement on Wednesday. You should have a low opinion of them because they're a fake charity run like any other company with a product to sell. In this case the product is a combination of guilt, pity, and hope dissolved in a weak acid and dyed a nauseating pink. [...] they also spend a million bucks per year in legal fees to threaten other non-profit groups who use the phrase For the Curetm, to which Komentm claims to have intellectual property rights. That last part is important to the organization, of course, because every successful marketing campaign needs a good logo and a slogan. And that's all Komen is – a consulting firm that helps large corporate clients sell more of their products through pinkwashing campaigns. By slathering everything from pasta to baseball bats to perfume to fast food with the Pink Imprimatur, consumers are led to believe that their purchases are making meaningful contributions to breast cancer research. Somewhere down the line a few cents per purchase may trickle into those bloated coffers, but the immediate and motivating effect of that pink packaging is to get you to buy things. In short, Komentm is a group of salespeople selling image.
