WASHINGTON & SANTA
FE, NM (By Gary
Stelzer, AP)
February 1, 2012
— The Susan G. Komen
for the Cure, the
nation’s leading
breast-cancer
charity, will cut
off its funding to
Planned Parenthood
affiliates, where
the foundation has
traditionally paid
for preventive
screening services.
The move will mean
“a cutoff of
hundreds of
thousands of dollars
in grants, mainly
for breast exams.”
Planned Parenthood
confirms Komen is
the first, and only,
organization to cut
off funding since
the Congress began
debating the issue
in earnest last
winter.
Komen said it could
not continue to fund
Planned Parenthood
because it has
adopted new
guidelines that bar
it from funding
organizations under
congressional
investigation. The
House oversight and
investigations
subcommittee
announced in the
fall an
investigation into
Planned Parenthood’s
funding.
Planned Parenthood
has been at the
center of a lot of
heated political
battles lately. Most
center on whether
the group, as an
abortion provider,
should receive
government funds for
other services it
provides, such as
offering
contraceptives and
preventive
screenings.
So far, plans to
curtail Planned
Parenthood’s funds
within government
have been stymied.
Both the
Democrat-controlled
Senate and President
Obama, for instance,
stood in the way of
House Republicans’
attempts to end
Planned Parenthood’s
federal funding.
Similarly, when a
handful of states
passed laws that
would have barred
abortion providers
(such as Planned
Parenthood) from
receiving federal
dollars through
Medicaid, the Center
for Medicare and
Medicaid Services
stepped in.
The agency has
warned states that
they could lose all
of their Medicaid
funding if they
implemented such a
policy. Those
defensive moves have
allowed Planned
Parenthood to
weather various
political attacks.
In some ways, the
Komen decision isn’t
particularly
surprising. The
group has been under
pressure from
antiabortion rights
groups not to fund
Planned Parenthood.
It also hired a vice
president last year
who had previously
advocated for the
group’s defunding in
her run for Georgia
governor.
With a congressional
investigation
underway, Komen
pulled its support.
And when private
institutions move to
cut off Planned
Parenthood’s funding
there’s not much
Democrats can do.The
only possible
backstop here might
be pressure from
Planned Parenthood
supporters pushing
back in the opposite
direction.
