Susan G. Komen ends funding for Planned Parenthood

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is ending its partnership with Planned Parenthood affiliates and is cutting funding towards the organization, the Associated Press reported.

Without Komen’s funds, Planned Parenthood will lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, which are mostly used for breast exams.

Both organizations have two different reasons for the end of this charitable relationship. Komen representatives said the main reason for the cut is that Planned Parenthood is under investigation in Congress, but Planned Parenthood sees it as Komen giving into pressure from anti-abortion activists, the AP reported.

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"We had the sense this was coming and that they were under pressure," said Sue Dunlap, chief executive of Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Times reported. "I find this really disappointing. I think when women's health is more of a political conversation than a conversation about health care and taking care of people, then we've gone too far."

Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the leading fundraiser for breast cancer research in the country, and known globally for its pink ribbon symbol. Komen says it recently adopted new criteria which forbids it from funding any organization under government investigation, the LA Times reported. Planned Parenthood has been under investigation since Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida, launched a probe in September to determine if it uses public money to fund abortions. The organization does receive federal money, but isn’t allowed to use it to provide abortions, the LA Times reported.

There have been claims from groups such as the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer about the link between abortion and the risk of breast cancer, the Washington Post reported. The same issue has been brought up about abortion’s link to the use of oral contraceptives, also available through Planned Parenthood. Still there has been little evidence there is any link between abortion and breast cancer, according to the American Cancer Society and the National Cancer Institute, the Washington Post reported.

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