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It has been widely reported that the Susan G. Komen Foundation caved to pressure from Planned Parenthood (PP).  I said so myself in an e-mail to CBR friends and supporters.  But it might be too early to tell.  At any rate, Komen will not be getting the personal donation that my wife and I had planned.

Here is Komen’s statement.  Three points about it:

1. Komen has said that they will continue to fund existing grants.  We already knew that.  It’s called “keeping your commitments.”
2. Komen clarified that they would disqualify grantees who were under investigations that are “criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”  Again, no surprise there.  Planned Parenthood is certainly guilty of criminal misconduct, and the video evidence is conclusive.  (Note:  This is true if you consider PP to be one organization, as we certainly do.  But if Komen intends to only disqualify PP affiliates who are currently under criminal investigation, then this is a big loophole.)
3. Komen said that PP would be eligible to apply for future grants.  I suppose anybody can apply; that’s no guarantee they will get anything.  We can’t assume anything, except that Komen is keeping their options open.  We shall have to wait and see.
4. Komen also said that they would maintain “the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”  Hiding behind affiliate autonomy is a common tactic to disavow responsibility for bad behavior.  That ruse won’t work with us.  Komen would never allow any affiliate to give a grant to the KKK.  If we see that Komen affiliates are giving new grants to PP, we will know that Komen has caved.

So where does that leave us?  One Komen board member said this is not a reversal.  I think we’ll just have to wait and see.

Interesting commentary:

• Planned Parenthood: Vicious Not Victorious, by Micheal New
• Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer Press Release.  (They will be getting that donation from my wife and myself.)
• Media genuflects before Church of Planned Parenthood.

One reader told me there are better places to give our money than the Susan B. Komen Foundation.  I agreed, but I pointed out that few of us decide how to spend our money that way.  If we did, there would be plenty of money for pro-life work and Comcast would be trying to figure out how to get Christians to support cable TV every month.  (Full disclosure: we have cable TV at our house, but we give more every month to pro-life work than we give to the cable TV company.)

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The pro-life world is abuzz this week about the great news that the Susan G. Komen Foundation (SGK) has cut off funding to Planned Parenthood (PP), the nation’s largest chain of abortion facilities. This is great news, no matter how you look at it.

SGK had planned no public announcement; they were content to allow their existing commitments to PP expire quietly and say nothing about it. It was PP who made it all public. Jill Stanek has the story.

After PP forced their hand, SGK didn’t just stick PP with the proverbial knife; they twisted it a couple of times. They stated publicly that PP would no longer receive grants because they are under investigation by local, state, or federal authorities. Ouch!

This is a huge blow to PP. The loss of half a million dollars will hardly affect the number of children PP is able to kill, but the loss of prestige is huge. This public and very dramatic rebuke will further stigmatize PP in the eyes of school systems, governmental agencies, and corporate donors across the country.

More good news: SGK is cutting all funding to embryonic stem cell research. Story here.

The left is in a rage, because abortion matters more to them than fighting breast cancer. Howard Dean and other leftists are encouraging corporate sponsors to punish SGK. Several links here.

Please send an e-mail to news@komen.org with the subject line: “Thank You for Defunding Planned Parenthood!” Last we heard, pro-life responses are outnumbering pro-abortion complaints by 2 to 1, at last count. We need to improve that response.

Also, please register your approval at www.istandwithkomen.com.

My wife and I are making a personal donation to both SGK and their local affiliate. Some pro-lifers are concerned that we can’t support SGK until it stops working against its own mission, i.e. misrepresenting the abortion-breast cancer (ABC) studies and downplaying the pill-breast cancer link. But this is a disagreement over science, not principle. Now that it is decoupled from PP’s abortion agenda, perhaps SGK will be in a better position to evaluate the ABC data more objectively.

Of course we are convinced that the ABC connection is real, but that’s really beside the point. It’s bad strategy to punish people who did exactly what we asked them to do, just because they haven’t done something else. It tells other potential allies and converts that you are petty and unreasonable.

In general, we must reject the all-or-nothing mentality that seems to prevail among some pro-lifers. If we demand 100% fidelity to everything we believe, we’ll have few allies and accomplish very little. We can and should set aside differences to form alliances and friendships based on mutual goals. Like my Aunt Jane used to say, “Don’t major in the minors.”

What SGK has done is quite remarkable and they are taking a vicious hit for it from their former allies. They have de-funded the abortion giant. We must thank them for this.

Withholding our support because of smaller disagreements will not make SGK listen to us, it will make us look petty and small. SGK needs to realize they have good friends in pro-lifers, allies in the battle for women’s health. Furthermore, we must also send a strong message to other corporations that if they sever ties with PP, we will welcome them with open arms.

... and now telling the truth. But only after lying first.

John Kerry voted for it before he voted against it.  Anthony Weiner lied before he told the truth (but only because he had to).  And now Planned Parenthood told the truth in private while lying in public.

What?  PP told the truth?  Say it ain’t so, Joe!  That’s stunning news.  But if they’re lying and truthing at the same time, do they really deserve partial credit?

Earlier today, Live Action released a video in which callers to Planned Parenthood clinics in Indiana actually told the truth.  YIKES!  PP admitted, truthfully, that patients on Medicare need not depend on PP, but can obtain the services they need from other health care providers in their communities.  This during an ongoing national campaign in which PP falsely claims that  poor women in Indiana will lose access to vital health care services if they cannot go to Planned Parenthood.

From the Live Action website:

In an official press release, Planned Parenthood CEO Cecile Richards claimed that Indiana’s defunding of Planned Parenthood would “take away health care from thousands of women in Indiana.” Last week, Live Action’s undercover investigators called 16 of the 28 Indiana Planned Parenthood clinics posing as women on Medicaid concerned about where they could receive services if Planned Parenthood’s funding was not restored.

Planned Parenthood staffers at all 16 locations admitted that Medicaid women would still have access to medical care after the defunding. Staffers suggested local health clinics or state-assigned primary care physicians for Medicaid patients: “Your primary care doctor should be able to do [a Well Woman exam,] I mean, that’s what they’re there for,” said a Planned Parenthood in Michigan City, while the Merrillville Planned Parenthood said of a local community health center, “They have the same services we have.”

“According to Planned Parenthood’s own statistics, their 28 clinics serve less than 1% of Indiana Medicaid patients, yet they do more than 50% of Indiana abortions,” notes Rose. There are over 800 other Medicaid providers available to these women in the counties with Planned Parenthood clinics alone.”

Click here for more on this story.  Check out the video here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqLL-v0JpY0

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Judge Tanya Walton Pratt of the US District Court, Southern District of Indiana, has upheld a key provision of an Indiana law that requires requires women to be informed that “human physical life begins when a human ovum is fertilized by a human sperm.”

The court disagreed with Planned Parenthood’s argument that the statement is “misleading.”  From the court order: 

Here, the mandated statement states only a biological fact relating to the development of the living organism; therefore, it may be reasonably read to provide accurate, non-misleading information to the patient.  Under Indiana law, a physician must disclose the facts and risks of a treatment which a reasonably prudent physician would be expected to disclose under like circumstances, and which a reasonable person would want to know.

Well, DUH!

In another part of the order, Judge Walton temporarily suspended a provision of the law that defunds organizations like PP.  The Alliance Defense Fund believes that this injunction is likely to be appealed.  For more details and links, click here.

Update:  Reuters reports that Indiana has already filed the appeal.

Entering and leaving Planned Parenthood.

Kurt Linnemann

Believe it or not, CBR Maryland Director Kurt Linnemann was arrested on June 10 because he reported a suspicious-looking cardboard box placed near the entrance of a Planned Parenthood abortion clinic.  This is why you should always videotape your pro-life activites.

In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, how many times were we told that we should report anything suspicious?  In this case, Kurt saw such a package outside the Planned Parenthood abortion clinic in Wilmington, Delaware.  So he reported it.  When the package turned out to be an empty box, one of the investigating officers arrested Kurt for reporting the package.  How stupid can you get?  Here’s the story.

Having the opportunity to observe law enforcement personnel over the years, I’ve observed that most of them are faithful public servants who deserve our every respect.  But about 10% of them really do love to throw their weight around.  They love that power and they want you to know they have it.  When you encourter such idiots, it is always best to obey their every command … then come back later and sue them.

You absolutely need to tape your pro-life activities.  You can expect this officer to lie under oath to cover up his stupidity.  Video recordings will go a long way to prevent him from getting away with it.

On Friday, June 17, CBR Maryland hosted a news conference.  Video here:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9E9Lt4XBLM

Yes we can!

Here’s the story.  First two were Indiana and Tennessee.  Only 47 more to go!

Notice that two of three (Tennessee and North Carolina) are the very closest states to Knoxville, the home of CBR Southeast.  You think there’s a connection?

Wait a minute.  Knoxville hero Peyton Manning plays football in Indiana.  There must be something to this!  Does this make Knoxville and CBR Southeast the center of the pro-life universe?

Killing babies no longer funded with taxpayer dollars in Tennessee.

Apparently, Planned Parenthood has been stripped of its federal funding in Tennessee.  Click here for the story.

Statement by Lt. Governor Ron Ramsey here.

This is a continuation of story here.

Brian Harris, President of Tennessee Right to Life

From LifeNews.com:

Tennessee Right to Life continues to press Governor Bill Haslam to take steps to yank the taxpayer funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business receives from the state.

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“As much as 55% of certain Planned Parenthood salaries are funded through contracts with the Tennessee Department of Health, said [Tennessee Right to Life President Brian] Harris. “These same employees  spend at least part of every work day promoting and/or participating in abortions at Planned Parenthood … no tax payer should be forced to subsidize the salary of any organization’s employees that participate in the harming of women and the killing of helpless unborn children.

Full story here.

Background story here.

Gov. Haslam’s statement here.

Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam

Apparently, the effort to keep Tennessee from funding the abortion industry is not yet complete.  I don’t really understand the details.  Last week, Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey and Speaker of the House Beth Harwell issued this press release:

The confusion surrounding the language in the budget regarding Planned Parenthood has been unfortunate. The Office of Legal Services advised House and Senate leadership that it is unconstitutional to amend general law through the appropriations bill (Article II, Section 17), an interpretation which would have put the entire budget document in jeopardy. It was not our intent to allow funding for Planned Parenthood. Our majority in the General Assembly clearly meant to defund them. We are currently working with pro-life activists to resolve this issue with legislation and we will put it to rest immediately upon the legislature’s return in January.

Lieutenant Governor Ron Ramsey and Speaker Beth Harwell

 CBR supporter Danny Bullington wrote Gov. Haslam and received this reply:

June 3, 2011

Dear Danny:

Thank you for contacting me regarding your concerns about Planned Parenthood. Listening to and learning from Tennesseans is very important to me, and I am committed to better understanding your concerns.

I am pro-life. I believe in the sanctity of every human life from the moment of conception. I am committed to protecting our traditional values, especially the rights of the unborn, and as Governor I am working to protect those rights.

No state tax dollars go to Planned Parenthood in the budget passed by the legislature this year. The current issue surrounds federal money passing through the state. I do have a line-item veto to reduce or disapprove a sum of money, but removing legal language – which is at the heart of this matter – would require the budget to be re-approved by the legislature, which has already gone out of session.

I am against tax dollars going to Planned Parenthood, and I am disappointed that the circumstances surrounding the state budget do not allow us to prevent this from happening this year. But I am already working with Lt. Gov. Ramsey and Speaker Harwell to ensure that taxpayer dollars do not go to Planned Parenthood in future budgets.

Again, thank you for contacting my office with your concerns, I look forward to working with you and all Tennesseans to make our state an even better place to live, work, and raise a family.

Warmest regards,
Bill Haslam

So, that’s all I’ve got.  But if you need more, try Google; they’ve got a search motor that’s catching on real big.  (Seriously, I think they’re going to make a go of it!)