From The Washington Post:
AP Exclusive: Amid abortion debate, Komen cancer charity halting grants to Planned Parenthood
By Associated Press, Published: January 31
NEW YORK — The nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates — creating a bitter rift, linked to the abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.
The change will mean a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams.
Planned Parenthood says the move results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress — a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion groups.
The rupture, which has not been publicly announced as it unfolded, is wrenching for some of those who’ve learned about it and admire both organizations.
“We’re kind of reeling,” said Patrick Hurd, who is CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia — recipient of a 2010 grant from Komen — and whose wife, Betsi, is a veteran of several Komen fundraising races and is currently battling breast cancer.
“It sounds almost trite, going through this with Betsi, but cancer doesn’t care if you’re pro-choice, anti-choice, progressive, conservative,” Hurd said. “Victims of cancer could care less about people’s politics.”
Planned Parenthood said the Komen grants totaled roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before, going to at least 19 of its affiliates for breast-cancer screening and other breast-health services.
Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun said the cutoff results from the charity’s newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations that are under investigation by local, state or federal authorities. According to Komen, this applies to Planned Parenthood because it’s the focus of an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., seeking to determine whether public money was improperly spent on abortions.
Cecile Richards, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has depicted Stearns’ probe as politically motivated and said she was dismayed that it had contributed to Komen’s decision to halt the grants to PPFA affiliates.
“It’s hard to understand how an organization with whom we share a mission of saving women’s lives could have bowed to this kind of bullying,” Richards told The Associated Press. “It’s really hurtful.”
Reaction to the news was swift and passionate. On Twitter, it was one of the most discussed topics Tuesday evening, with some tweets praising Komen’s decision and others angrily vowing never to give to it again.
Two Democrats in Congress — Sen. Patty Murray of Washington and Rep. Michael Honda of California — issued statements denouncing Komen’s action.
“I am stunned and saddened,” said Honda, whose longtime chief of staff, Jennifer VanderHeide, had breast cancer last year. “I call on Komen to reconsider this decision, stand strong in the face of political pressure and do the right thing for the health of millions of women everywhere.”
Anti-abortion groups, in contrast, welcomed the news. The Alliance Defense Fund praised Komen “for seeing the contradiction between its lifesaving work and its relationship with an abortionist that has ended millions of lives.”
A statement issued Tuesday evening by Komen made no reference to the vehement reactions, instead citing its new grant-making criteria and pledging to ensure there were no gaps in service to women.
“While it is regrettable when changes in priorities and policies affect any of our grantees, such as a long-standing partner like Planned Parenthood, we must continue to evolve to best meet the needs of the women we serve and most fully advance our mission,” the statement said.
Planned Parenthood has been a perennial target of protests, boycotts and funding cutoffs because of its role as the largest provider of abortions in the United States. Its nearly 800 health centers nationwide provide an array of other services, including birth control, testing for sexually transmitted diseases, and cancer screening.
According to Planned Parenthood, its centers performed more than 4 million breast exams over the past five years, including nearly 170,000 as a result of Komen grants.
Komen, founded in 1982, has invested more than $1.9 billion since then in breast-cancer research, health services and advocacy. Its Race for the Cure fundraising events have become a global phenomenon.
For all its mainstream popularity, however, Komen has been a target of anti-abortion groups since it began its partnerships with Planned Parenthood in 2005.
Life Decisions International includes Komen on its “boycott list” of companies and organizations that support or collaborate with Planned Parenthood. In December, Lifeway Christian Resources, the publishing division of the Southern Baptist Convention announced a recall of pink Bibles it had sold because some of the money generated for Komen was being routed to Planned Parenthood.
Aun, the Komen spokeswoman, said such pressure tactics were not the reason for the funding cutoff and cited Stearns’ House investigation as a key factor.
That investigation, which has no set timetable, was launched in September when Stearns asked Planned Parenthood for more than a decade’s worth of documents.
Stearns, in a statement emailed to the AP on Monday, said he is still working with Planned Parenthood on getting the requested documents. He said he is looking into possible violations of state and local reporting requirements, as well as allegations of financial abuse, and would consider holding a hearing depending on what he learns.
Many of the allegations were outlined in a report presented to Stearns last year by Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion group, which urged him to investigate.
Democrats and Planned Parenthood supporters have assailed the probe as an unwarranted political ploy.
Komen, while not publicly announcing its decision to halt the grants, has conveyed the news to its 100-plus U.S. affiliates. Richards said she was informed via a phone call from Komen’s president, Elizabeth Thompson, in December.
“It was incredibly surprising,” Richards said. “It wasn’t even a conversation — it was an announcement.”
Richards subsequently sent a letter to Komen’s top leaders — CEO Nancy Brinker and board chairman Dr. LaSalle D. Leffall, Jr. — requesting a meeting with the board and asserting that Komen had misrepresented Planned Parenthood’s funding-eligibility status in some states.
According to Planned Parenthood, the Komen leaders replied to Richards with a brief letter ignoring the request for a meeting, defending the new grant criteria, and adding, “We understand the disappointment of any organization that is affected by these policy and strategy updates.”
Aun, in a telephone interview, said Komen was not accusing Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing.
“We want to maintain a positive relationship with them,” she said. “We’re not making any judgment.”
Richards said Planned Parenthood is intent on raising funds quickly to replace the lost grants so that women in need do not go without breast-screening services. Already, the family foundation of Dallas oilman/philanthropist Lee Fikes and his wife, Amy, has donated $250,000 for this purpose, Planned Parenthood said.
The Komen decision was perplexing to Dottie Lamm, a Denver newspaper columnist and breast cancer survivor. She has done fundraising for Planned Parenthood, participated in several Races for the Cure, and serves on an honorary advisory council for the local Komen affiliate.
“It really makes me sad,” said Lamm, wife of former Colorado Gov. Richard Lamm. “I kind of suspect there’s a political agenda that got to Komen ... I hope it can be worked out.”
Stephanie Kight, a vice president with Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, said her affiliate in Southern California received a Komen grant for 2011 and was able to obtain an additional grant of $120,000 for 2012 by signing the deal with its local Komen counterpart just before Komen’s new criteria took effect. Under the criteria, no further grants will be allowed unless the pending House inquiry is resolved in Planned Parenthood’s favor.
Kight said her conversations with local Komen leaders indicated there was a shared sense of frustration over the national Komen decision.
“One of the things these organizations share is the trust of women across the United States,” Kight said. “That’s what we’re concerned about — not losing the trust of these women, who turn to both of us at their most difficult moments.”
From our friends at Not Dead Yet:
Readers of this blog are familiar with the Final Exit Network (FEN), the assisted suicide vigilante cult that has gotten into legal trouble in two states over the roles members of FEN played in facilitating the suicides of a man in Georgia and a woman in Arizona.
The common denominator in both cases is the (now ex) "medical director" of FEN, Lawrence Egbert. The Washington Post profiled him in the Lifestyle section of its magazine last week. The Washington Post is also hosting a live chat with Egbert on its site today - January 23 - at 2:00 pm ET.
I just want to share an excerpt from the Post's profile on Egbert, with some comment. I'll provide info to access the live chat for those who are interested at the end of this post.
From the profile:
About John Celmer, the person "assisted" by FEN in Georgia:
At various times, Sue Celmer said, he was taking Chantix to try to quit smoking, and taking oxycodone or applying morphine patches to manage his constant pain. “Anybody who takes that many drugs is in no position to make decisions about their lives,” she said. “He was like a drowning man, and they saw it as a grand opportunity to promote their agenda and drown him.”
Sue and John Celmer had lived separately for years, but were still close. A couple of things might have tweaked some kind of red flag for Egbert if he was really into anything other than rubber-stamping applications - Chantix is a drug used to quit smoking; why would someone serious about killing themselves be trying to quit smoking? And then there's the Chantix, a medication used to aid people in quitting smoking. Even at the time of Celmer's "application" to FEN, both depression and thoughts of suicide were known to be possible, albeit allegedly rare, side effects of taking that medication. Since then, it turns out the risks aren't so rare. Just last November, researchers reported that Chantix was anything but a "safe" drug:
The new study relies on adverse events from the FDA's Adverse Event Reporting System from 1998 through September 2010. They analyzed 3,249 reports of serious self-injury or depression linked to Chantix (varenicline), GlaxoSmithKline's Zyban (bupropion) antidepressant that was approved for smoking cessation and nicotine replacement products.
They found that 2,925 cases, or 90 percent, of suicidal behavior or depression reported to the FDA were related to Chantix, even though the drug was only approved for four of the nearly 13 years of data included in the study.
Granted, this data wasn't available at the time of Celmer's "application" to FEN, but the possibility that Celmer's wish to commit suicide was medication-induced was something anyone other than a zealot would have considered.
In the profile, Egbert denies he's a "true believer" aka "zealot," but the approval rate he claims to have to his credit - almost everyone - is far higher than the claims Kevorkian made. While impossible to substantiate, Kevorkian claimed he only aided a small percentage of those who contacted him.
Egbert is a quieter and politer man than Kevorkian, and people (like the reporter at the Washington Post) are less likely to brand him a zealot?
But what is it that marks someone as a zealot? Their manners and demeanor? Or their actions?
I vote for actions - and by that standard both Egbert and Kevorkian more than qualify as zealots and fanatics, even if one of them is soft-spoken and polite.
You can access the live chat here at 2:00 pm ET. --Stephen Drake
Massachusetts Citizens For Life
39th Annual Interfaith
ASSEMBLYFOR LIFE
Sunday, January 29th, 2012
2:00 pm – 4:00 pm
The Great Hall at Historic Faneuil Hall
(1 Faneuil Hall Square, Boston, MA)
Keynote Speaker:
Wayne Cockfield
Vietnam War Veteran
Disability Rights Activist
Come join us…
Together with our religious leaders and political representatives.
Come as we stand… United For Life!
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 15, 2012 contact: Anne Fox, 781-449-1774
BOSTON— Massachusetts Citizens for Life has announced the winner of its first award for the best legal writing in the country. Michael Fragoso, a student at Notre Dame Law School, has won the cash award with a published legal review, “Taking Conscience Seriously or Seriously Taking Conscience?: Obstetricians, Specialty Boards, and the Takings Clause.” MCFL will present the cash award to Mr Fragoso at the Massachusetts Caucus preceding the March for Life on January 23 in Washington, DC.
Fragoso’s research and paper explains how decertifying doctors because of their moral opposition to performing abortions and euthanasia could be a confiscatory action by the government, which would require compensation paid to doctors whose medical practices would be taken.
“We have identified many risks, such as rationing, denial of care, and slashing of conscience rights in state controlled health care. We are grateful to Michael Fragoso for explaining how slashing conscience rights will drive doctors out of business in a way which is actually illegal.” Stated Anne Fox, President of MCFL.
Fox continues, “Since published legal research can have a significant impact on court decisions. MCFL has started the National Pro-Life Legal Writing Award to reward those who are working to advance the cause of life in law. This is the only competition which encourages both the research and the publication of such research in a law school journal or review, or in an ABA journal.
“Considering the number of pro-life physicians, especially obstetricians, whose livelihoods are at risk, this is a very timely entry. We are proud to reward Mr. Fragoso for his good work.”
Amy Pedagno, of Ave Maria Law School in Florida was chosen as the first runner-up for a soon-to-be-published piece on young women in state foster care, “Who are the Parents? In Loco Parentis, Parens Patriae, and Abortion Decision-Making for Pregnant Girls in Foster Care.”
Massachusetts Citizens for Life is the oldest and largest right to life group in the state. MCFL is committed to restoring legal protection to life at all stages of development.
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The article can be found in Vol. 86, Issue 4 of Notre Dame Law Review
Find a link to the article HERE
Last Updated (Monday, 16 January 2012 11:57)
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Tuesday, 07 February 2012 13:34 | 
Written by John F. Triolo | 
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