PLANNED PARENTHOOD

FROM MOVEON.ORG

PHOTO:

Elora Tocci, a Syracuse University sophomore

www.hercampus.com

Susan G. Komen for the Cure just cut all its funding to Planned Parenthood for breast health screenings, bowing to anti-choice pressure and making breast health care suddenly inaccessible to many women.¹

Planned Parenthood health centers are often the main source of health care for women in underserved communities, and they provide 830,000 breast exams every year.² 170,000 of these were funded through Komen, along with 6,400 mammogram referrals.³ Without Komen's funding, many of these women could be unable to get the screenings and early detection of breast cancer that save lives.

It's incredibly disappointing for an organization founded to protect women's health to play politics with real women's lives.

Tell Susan G. Komen for the Cure, "Don't bow to anti-choice pressure. Reestablish breast health funding for Planned Parenthood affiliates."

Komen has raised tons of money and awareness about breast cancer from people who care about women's health. They need to know that they've gone too far by joining the right-wing war on Planned Parenthood—which, let's be honest, is really a war on women. That's why we're partnering with the new organization UltraViolet to get Komen to reverse this decision.

Komen says this isn't about choice, but it recently changed its funding guidelines to exclude any organization under investigation by Congress, knowing that a baseless investigation into Planned Parenthood had been opened by Republican Representative Cliff Stearns at the request of anti-choice groups.⁴

And Komen has strong links to the anti-choice movement. Its new vice president of public policy, Karen Handel, ran for governor of Georgia in 2010 on an aggressively anti-choice platform, part of which was a pledge to defund Planned Parenthood.⁵

Komen needs to hear that we won't stand for this kind of political posturing when real lives are at stake.

Tell them to reestablish funding for Planned Parenthood now.