My Take: On Komen controversy, media told half the story
Editor's Note: Mollie Ziegler Hemingway is a media critic at GetReligion and editor at Ricochet.
By Mollie Ziegler Hemingway, Special to CNN
Faced with a deluge of media opposition and pressure from lawmakers, the Susan G. Komen foundation amended its decision to cut off funds to Planned Parenthood last week. Afterward, Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer and NBC’s Andrea Mitchell complimented each other on getting Komen to buckle under pressure.
Here's the thing....Planned Parenthood doesn't just provide abortions. They provide HEALTHCARE for those who are too scared or can't afford to go see a doctor at a hospital. What if Planned Parenthood were renamed "Reproductive Wellness Clinic?" They would still provide all of the same services, just with a different name. Would we even be having this conversation? The Susan G. Komen Foundation wanted to de-fund Planned Parenthood because they are under Congressional investigation. An investigation that is a conservative crusade to shame Planned Parenthood. There individuals think that just because Planned Parenthood does provide pregnancy termination services and they receive federal funding, that Planned Parenthood MUST be using federal money to provide pregnancy termination services. Where's the proof that they're using federal money for those purposes? Would it be easier if Planned Parenthood didn't charge for pregnancy termination services but still provided them? That way there would be a guarantee that ZERO federal funds are being used for these services. Ergo, no Congressional investigation and no reason for the Susan G. Komen Foundation to pull their funding. But then Planned Parenthood would have to rely on more and more donations to keep providing low cost medical care for the women AND men they see. While some may say that the amount the Susan G. Komen foundation grants to Planned Parenthood is a "relatively small snippet" of the organization's budget that is still $600,000 that Planned Parenthood has to make up some how. Breast cancer is not political. It does not have a party and does not attack only one set of people. Planned Parenthood may be aligned more so with Democrats than Republicans, but I'm sure that Planned Parenthood will provide all of the services they can to all of the individuals they can without considering their party lines. Planned Parenthood does do cancer screenings, including breast cancer screenings and referrals for mammograms. Planned Parenthood does not have all of the resources to be able to provide the mammograms. The machines are expensive. The techs to operate the machines are expensive. The doctors to read the results of the mammograms are expensive. So the money that the Susan G. Komen foundation grants to Planned Parenthood gives Planned Parenthood the ability to send their patients to the clinics that can do the mammograms. Maybe if the Susan G. Komen Foundation wanted to provide Planned Parenthood locations that don't provide pregnancy termination services with the ability to perform mammograms (machines, techs, doctors, etc.). Then we could avoid this whole political show and move on with Planned Parenthood providing reproductive wellness HEALTH care.
