Don't bite on it. Click ignore. Read something else. Check your email. Go blog. Go tweet! Do something, anything, but don't go back and respond to that post.
We've all been there. You log onto Facebook and there is a post, advocating something that you cannot possibly stomach, and worse, it is posted from a friend. You make a comment maybe, or click, "I don't want to see this." but the posts keep coming. You unfollow for a time, but still, the links and the posts keep coming. It starts to feel like a constant drill into the head. There are the subsequent "subtle" shares of links and posts that dispute the issue at hand, but eventually, one has to either swear off entirely or address the issue.
It's at this point, I so get Saint Peter. Because I feel very cowardly at the charcoal fire put before me on Facebook. How many times can you read something you absolutely disagree with on every level before you either brand yourself a coward, or speak up?
And the stupid cost. The cost. The cost. The cost. This is a friend. They would never talk about this sort of thing with me face to face in this manner. Even if we did bring up something difficult and found we disagreed, the conversation would be reasonable, it would be charitable, we'd have laughs and talk about everything we have in common rather than what divides us.
Neither Facebook nor the internet allow for that sort of dialogue easily. The venue is best for hit and run, drive by stake out your position and dare someone to disagree type memes. Click like and move on. Will I lose them? Should I be holding their friendship so dear? Is their friendship that dear, am I valuing it too much or not enough?
Is it a call to evangelize, or a time to be prudent? I know which one I will pick, and draft as best I can, a private message. Underlying every word is a beg. Please don't dismiss me, please don't throw me away, please don't hate me. I'd make a lousy apostle, I don't do dislike well. It's humiliating to know, even at forty-nine, I'm still so damn needy. Still full of doubts, still worried when I have to stand up, I will be alone.
But I profess to be Pro-life, I always have been. Being a two pound eleven ounce baby myself, I have a fire in the heart for the smallest of all. Science informs me that a human is human from conception to natural death, regardless of capacity, past, present or future.
So when the discussion of defunding Planned Parenthood came up, I signed petitions, I prayed, and thought back to when I first learned the reality of this organization.
Back in 1992, when I first discovered myself expecting, I went to the general doctor office near my apartment. The doctor heard my medical history and immediately said, "Abort." When I said no, he told me in order to treat me, I'd have to have some lab work and sent me to Planned Parenthood with an appointment for a pregnancy test. At the time, I admittedly didn't know of Planned Parenthood as a brand, and agreed to the appointment.
Inside the clinic, I sat while the man drew my blood. I noticed the place was dirtier than what I expected. I saw what looked like a little lump of flesh on the floor, and bits of bloody guts, they reminded me of when I gutted freshly caught fish before I've cleaned up. I told myself I was imagining things.
The lab technician told me I was pregnant, and immediately asked me if I wanted an abortion. When I said, "No! Are you serious? (though I think I said crazy), I'm keeping the baby!" He said, "Then I can't help you." and I left. I felt an urgency to flee. No other services were offered but abortion. I felt an urge as I saw the other women in the clinic sitting and waiting for whatever they were waiting for, to tell them, "Run." I hope some of them did, and found themselves with now twenty-two year old sons and daughters they love beyond all measure.
But I can still see that young man in the lab coat, I remember his face. I also can't forget the fleshy bit I didn't imagine on the floor.
So when I read what former directors and doctors of Planned Parenthood say about abortion, about what goes on inside those walls, I believe them, and think, as soon to be named a Saint, Blessed Mother Teresa said, "If abortion is not evil, then nothing is evil." And as is said in my favorite Star Trek Series, Deep Space Nine, "Evil must be opposed."
We do not want a society that thinks those not convenient, should be ignored, swept under the rug, destroyed or hidden. I know what that means, caring for the homeless, the disabled, those in prisons, those dislocated by war, those here in great need, the just and the unjust, all of them, matter. It isn't an easy thing to advocate, because the political parties do not lend themselves to all, but only to some. Often the argument in favor of caring for all gets derailed by the imperfect nature of proposed solutions. But the absence of a solution that fits all, does not eliminate the need to stand for something which is good, and will to work out the details as we go.
Pope Francis came to this country. He fed the homeless, he visited those in prisons, he counseled the ignorant, (Congress), he prayed with the suffering, he counseled us to harbour the harbourless, he prayed for the living and the dead, he lay hands on the sick, he sent a letter to try and ransom the captive (woman on death row who was not pardoned). He encouraged the faithful to have hope, counseling the doubtful. In short, he did as many acts (spiritual and corporeal) of mercy as he could in the six days he was here. He tried to embody the truth, the good, the beauty of the Catholic faith, to all who encountered him.
If the Church is right about feeding the hungry, being stewards of the Earth and all her peoples, caring for the sick, welcoming the lost, lonely, scared and the stranger, then isn't it possible, we're right about needing to care for these unborn too? To those who say, what about the mother? I say, they must be cared for, that is part of the necessary act of a Catholic, to care for the woman with an unplanned pregnancy, for the mother, for the child, for the father, for the family whether it is bound legally or not. (See, I agree, it isn't an easy solution, it will require work). What is good, is good, and what is evil is evil, even if the law ignores the reality or pretends it is neutral.
So I hope my friend reads my words and hears the heart behind them and knows I'm still a friend, and maybe can see why this issue reflects the same value necessary for all the other classes of people in need of a pro-life society.
Showing posts with label Planned Parenthood. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Planned Parenthood. Show all posts
Thursday, October 1, 2015
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Repeating My Call to Others
Dr. Mary Gatter, Planned Parenthood Federation of America's Medical Directors' Council President wants a Lamborghini. All I can think is, "But for Wales." So I'm relinking to my Saturday piece, Prayers and Fasting in hopes of getting more people to publicly adopt a specific abortionist they will pray and fast for over the course of the next year.
It is not shocking that people sell other people for money, or parts for money. We do this as a culture without thinking about it. We sell human eggs, we sell sperm. We sell wombs. We sell porn (selling the outside while destroying the inside). What we don't do is sell pieces...of people. Except here, we do. Why? Because they've convinced themselves, these children are not people.
Once we stop seeing people as people (unborn), they become property, which can be bought and sold for lucre, and the more, the better.
Someone adopt this woman in their prayers, because a flashy car won't fill her anymore than the fine meal filled Dr. Deborah Nucatola in the prior video.
Don't think it can happen? Check out Abby Johnson's And Then There Were None. Abortion preys on the weakest, it enslaves those who perform it, to a constant need to bring others to the same dark place. It's a hope we have to hold, if we would call ourselves Christians, that mercy and forgiveness are available for the asking.
It's easy to hold her in contempt. It's easy to rage at the evil. But there is nothing more human than knowing the reality, "We are broken." and nothing closer to the divine, than to either ask for mercy, or give it. We cannot absolve her of her sins, but we must pray she seeks forgiveness. That is the only charitable response to what we now know, and we have an obligation now to this woman in particular, and those like her, because now, we know. She is a lost sheep, a lost sister of Christ. We want all of our brothers and sisters at the table.
Pray hard.
Saturday, July 18, 2015
Prayer and Fasting
I was going to write a humor piece today about the next two week hiatus I intended to have.
But unless you've been under a rock, if you're part of the Catholic blogsophere, (and I am), you've no doubt seen or read about the interview. It breaks your heart to think people could discuss either the procedure or the procurement so casually over a salad and wine. Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood apologized for the "tone" of the discussion, (note, not the content).
I saw comboxes filled with justifiable horror, and some things which were far less justifiable, condemnations. Yes, these people kill the innocent for money. They do so for a living, it's what they do. As the old joke goes... We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.
We will not convert Cecile Richards via this expose, or the senior director of medical services for all of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Deborah Nucatola or anyone else, even given the ick factor of harvesting human organs from unborn children willfully discarded and destroyed. These are people who must live with themselves and to my understanding, there are only three ways they could manage to get through the day and consider themselves moral agents.
1) They view abortion as a good, not an evil. Because they view it as a good, as a service they provide to the needy; those who oppose it must be willfully blind to the suffering and fear of the women seeking an abortion. Whether because of their faith or ignorance of the reality of said women seeking abortion, those who oppose abortion do not understand the true service provided. Ergo, their opinions don't matter, and can be dismissed.
2) They view abortion as a necessary evil, for the greater good. The end justifies the means, with the goal being a good. (Independence, freedom from pregnancy). Anyone who doesn't, is imposing their morality and again can be dismissed.
3) They view having an abortion as a neutral act, having no morality save that ascribed by the person considering it. As such, they think abortion is something that needs to be destigmatized because it's a hard reality, and having the bonus of morality makes the hard reality worse.
If we're going to win the hearts of people who think we have nothing they need to hear, it will take more than exposes and votes and threats of fire and brimstone. It will take serious love, prayer and fasting.
As incredible as it may seem, for God's mercy and love is beyond ours, that woman sitting discussing her skills at crushing the top and the bottom, like Dr. Kermit Gossnel, and all other advocates who profit from, and push for the continued killing of the innocent, are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They are Saul before his trip to Damascus. They are the slave trader before he began his conversion and eventually penned "Amazing Grace." So I have a proposal for all readers/pro-life advocates/Catholic bloggers out there that made it this far.
Adopt an abortionist, director of a Planned Parenthood, or a politician who advocates for the procedure for the next year. Come up with a doable prayer and fast you can perform on behalf of that person.
Why?
"Some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21).
My suggestion is to take one person who is a public face advocating/supporting this grave evil be done to and by human beings. I'd prefer to have two people adopt each person. Your prayers and fasting are up to you. Make it a doable thing, like a Hail Mary a day for the person in question, and a nickle a day for a local Crisis Pregnancy center or a rosary a week, anything you wish, but state the person you wish to claim.
I've chosen Cecile Richards because she is the public face of Planned Parenthood, and I don't think discussion at this point is possible. If we were to sit down at a dinner, and I were to talk about the innate dignity of every human from point one, it would not be heard. If I were to talk about the crime which cries out to God, slaughtering the innocent, it would not be heard. She has come to hold what she does is a good.
My husband has choses Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the woman in the video. We hope others will join in this project for the next year.
Imagine an army of Pauls from the army of Sauls.
1) Cecile Richards
2) Dr. Deborah Nucatola
3) Dr. Kermit Gossnel
4) Dr. Leroy Carhart (Local, does late term abortions).
5) Any member of the Pro-Choice Caucus:
5) Hillary Clinton (she's the forerunner but I'm not singling her out other than for that reason).
I saw comboxes filled with justifiable horror, and some things which were far less justifiable, condemnations. Yes, these people kill the innocent for money. They do so for a living, it's what they do. As the old joke goes... We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.
We will not convert Cecile Richards via this expose, or the senior director of medical services for all of Planned Parenthood, Dr. Deborah Nucatola or anyone else, even given the ick factor of harvesting human organs from unborn children willfully discarded and destroyed. These are people who must live with themselves and to my understanding, there are only three ways they could manage to get through the day and consider themselves moral agents.
1) They view abortion as a good, not an evil. Because they view it as a good, as a service they provide to the needy; those who oppose it must be willfully blind to the suffering and fear of the women seeking an abortion. Whether because of their faith or ignorance of the reality of said women seeking abortion, those who oppose abortion do not understand the true service provided. Ergo, their opinions don't matter, and can be dismissed.
2) They view abortion as a necessary evil, for the greater good. The end justifies the means, with the goal being a good. (Independence, freedom from pregnancy). Anyone who doesn't, is imposing their morality and again can be dismissed.
3) They view having an abortion as a neutral act, having no morality save that ascribed by the person considering it. As such, they think abortion is something that needs to be destigmatized because it's a hard reality, and having the bonus of morality makes the hard reality worse.
If we're going to win the hearts of people who think we have nothing they need to hear, it will take more than exposes and votes and threats of fire and brimstone. It will take serious love, prayer and fasting.
As incredible as it may seem, for God's mercy and love is beyond ours, that woman sitting discussing her skills at crushing the top and the bottom, like Dr. Kermit Gossnel, and all other advocates who profit from, and push for the continued killing of the innocent, are our brothers and sisters in Christ. They are Saul before his trip to Damascus. They are the slave trader before he began his conversion and eventually penned "Amazing Grace." So I have a proposal for all readers/pro-life advocates/Catholic bloggers out there that made it this far.
Adopt an abortionist, director of a Planned Parenthood, or a politician who advocates for the procedure for the next year. Come up with a doable prayer and fast you can perform on behalf of that person.
Why?
"Some demons can only be driven out by prayer and fasting" (Matthew 17:21).
My suggestion is to take one person who is a public face advocating/supporting this grave evil be done to and by human beings. I'd prefer to have two people adopt each person. Your prayers and fasting are up to you. Make it a doable thing, like a Hail Mary a day for the person in question, and a nickle a day for a local Crisis Pregnancy center or a rosary a week, anything you wish, but state the person you wish to claim.
I've chosen Cecile Richards because she is the public face of Planned Parenthood, and I don't think discussion at this point is possible. If we were to sit down at a dinner, and I were to talk about the innate dignity of every human from point one, it would not be heard. If I were to talk about the crime which cries out to God, slaughtering the innocent, it would not be heard. She has come to hold what she does is a good.
My husband has choses Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the woman in the video. We hope others will join in this project for the next year.
Imagine an army of Pauls from the army of Sauls.
1) Cecile Richards
2) Dr. Deborah Nucatola
3) Dr. Kermit Gossnel
4) Dr. Leroy Carhart (Local, does late term abortions).
5) Any member of the Pro-Choice Caucus:
| Federal Caucus Member | Blumenauer, Earl | D-h03 | Portland |
| Federal Caucus Member | Brownley, Julia | D-h26 | Thousand Oaks |
| Federal Caucus Member | Capuano, Michael E. | D-h07 | Randolph |
| Federal Caucus Member | Cohen, Steve I. | D-h09 | Memphis |
| Co-Chair | DeGette, Diana L. | D-h01 | Denver |
| Federal Caucus Member | Doggett, Lloyd A. | D-h35 | San Antonio |
| Federal Caucus Member | Ellison, Keith M. | DFL-h05 | Minneapolis |
| Federal Caucus Member | Engel, Eliot L. | D-h16 | Bronx |
| Federal Caucus Member | Farr, Sam | D-h20 | Santa Cruz |
| Federal Caucus Member | Frankel, Lois J. | D-h22 | Boca Raton |
| Federal Caucus Member | Grayson, Alan M. | D-h09 | Orlando |
| Federal Caucus Member | Green, Gene | D-h29 | Houston |
| Federal Caucus Member | Grijalva, Raul M. | D-h03 | Avondale |
| Federal Caucus Member | Honda, Mike | D-h17 | Newark |
| Federal Caucus Member | Huffman, Jared W. | D-h02 | Ukiah |
| Federal Caucus Member | Kildee, Dan T. | D-h05 | Flint |
| Federal Caucus Member | Lee, Barbara J. | D-h13 | San Leandro |
| Federal Caucus Member | Loebsack, Dave W. | D-h02 | Davenport |
| Federal Caucus Member | Lowey, Nita M. | D-h17 | New City |
| Federal Caucus Member | Lujan Grisham, Michelle | D-h01 | Albuquerque |
| Federal Caucus Member | McDermott, Jim A. | D-h07 | Seattle |
| Federal Caucus Member | Nadler, Jerrold L. | D-h10 | New York |
| Federal Caucus Member | Pallone, Frank J. | D-h06 | New Brunswick |
| Federal Caucus Member | Pocan, Mark | D-h02 | Beloit |
| Federal Caucus Member | Quigley, Mike | D-h05 | Chicago |
| Federal Caucus Member | Scott, David A. | D-h13 | Smyrna |
| Federal Caucus Member | Sinema, Kyrsten | D-h09 | Phoenix |
| Co-Chair | Slaughter, Louise M. | D-h25 | Rochester |
| Federal Caucus Member | Titus, Dina C. | D-h01 | Las Vegas |
| Federal Caucus Member | Tsongas, Niki S. | D-h03 | Fitchburg |
| Federal Caucus Member | Veasey, Marc A. | D-h33 | Fort Worth |
6) Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg --She's been outspoken on this issue, but any and all of the justices need our prayers on this issue.
7) Prayers are always valid, so pray for the soul of George Tiller --murdered abortionist.
8) Pray for the unknown fathers who have no capacity to protect their children from death.
9) Pray for the nurses and assistants who perform these actions.
10) President Obama and those of his administration that share this view of the unborn as mistakes, punishments, and disposable.
11) Republicans for Choice --I'd list the members but the site ironically does not give any names.
12) Catholics for Choice. They are denying part of Catholic social justice teaching and moral teaching, by advocating dissent on this issue.
13) There are more but that's for anyone who wishes to discern. The goal is to adopt a person, make it personal to you, for whom you will pray as a friend prays for a friend, someone who we hope we either get the privilege of welcoming into Heaven, or the honor of being welcomed by.
We know as Catholics, we will be asked one day, how many did you bring? Did you turn your one, two or ten talents into more, or bury them? Our lives are one giant project to invite everybody.
Let's get to work.
7) Prayers are always valid, so pray for the soul of George Tiller --murdered abortionist.
8) Pray for the unknown fathers who have no capacity to protect their children from death.
9) Pray for the nurses and assistants who perform these actions.
10) President Obama and those of his administration that share this view of the unborn as mistakes, punishments, and disposable.
11) Republicans for Choice --I'd list the members but the site ironically does not give any names.
12) Catholics for Choice. They are denying part of Catholic social justice teaching and moral teaching, by advocating dissent on this issue.
13) There are more but that's for anyone who wishes to discern. The goal is to adopt a person, make it personal to you, for whom you will pray as a friend prays for a friend, someone who we hope we either get the privilege of welcoming into Heaven, or the honor of being welcomed by.
We know as Catholics, we will be asked one day, how many did you bring? Did you turn your one, two or ten talents into more, or bury them? Our lives are one giant project to invite everybody.
Let's get to work.
Friday, February 3, 2012
Why it Matters: A Pink Reflection
The blogopshere, specifically, the Catholic blogosphere has been alive for four days with the sounds of people singing the praises of the Susan G. Komen Community for announcing it would no longer fund Planned Parenthood via its grants to do referrals for breast cancer. Given that they were easily one of the most popular and visible charities around, one has to ask why did they do this?
Some said it was political. Right wing politically active conservatives had been leaning on the Komen foundation. If they were, it explains why Romney was able to gain the higher ground in the GOP primaries. Clearly those right wing vast conspiracy types were focusing on the wrong target.
But maybe they just wanted to eat their favorite brand of yogurt in good conscience. I'm not saying there isn't a political element. Where there's money, there always is a political component. But I'm literate. I'm political. I'm pro-life. I'm invested. I'm involved. I haven't heard anything. Shoot! I must have the wrong decoder ring.
So why did Komen open this ugly can of worms? Why would they invite the grief they've endured since, so much so that there is some recanting going on?
Part of it was addressing the fact that Planned Parenthood is under Federal and several state investigations for medicade fraud and other abuses. Part of it was yes, the Pro-life activism which alerted the general public and specifically, those who hold that we must not support an institution that performs abortion, that the Susan G. Komen foundation did in fact give money to Planned Parenthood. Part of it was probably the exposes by Live Action and the testimony of people like Abby Johnson in her book Unplanned, about her conversion from being an administrator of a Planned Parenthood facility to becoming Pro-life, and Lila Rose's videos and James O'Keefe's investigations.
Then there was the personal component, the moral reasonings of Nancy G. Brinker, the founder of the Susan Komen foundation. She stated as such in her video youtube speech attempting to articulate her rational for the policy change. Another reason given was that Planned Parenthood doesn't do mammograms. Komen was eliminating a middle man and having the funding go to institutions that actually do the screenings. And I'm sure there are other reasons that I haven't discerned.
Based on Facebook alone, the world exploded. Suddenly Nancy G. Brinker despite 30 years of work, 30 years of raising money and awareness about the causes and treatments and screenings for breast cancer, was an evil woman and her foundation did no good, because it decided to distance itself from Planned Parenthood. After all, she made over half a million a year as CEO. EVIL 1%er. EVIL. Everyone should stop buying pink right away to shame Komen. I saw post after post after post.
Speaking up became a matter of shall I be silent when I agree with Komen to keep the friendship? But I couldn't stay silent. If they will boast of standing with Planned Parenthood, then they must know, I will tell them, there are other places that deserve your loyalty more, that could do what you want done without the taint of blood and death.
Stating that one applauded Komen was tantamount to hate speech. Which brings me to why I'm writing. Abortion is the unspoken ugliness that divides us. The debate itself is so politicized that no one is considered to believe what they believe out of good faith anymore. Further, if one person or organization switches sides, they are immediately condemned. Komen was publically scourged for switching sides.
There was no consideration by those who disagreed with the Komen foundation's new policy that perhaps there were other places that could do the screenings and provide treatment and assessment for breast cancer that didn't come with baggage. It must be a religous conspiracy. It must be stopped.
Not knowing the mind of this CEO, I still can imagine that she might have thought about it pragmatically; if pro-lifers were not buying pink ribbon products because of Planned Parenthood but everyone else was buying pink products to stop breast cancer, then if we stopped funding Planned Parenthood, everyone would buy pink products to help find a cure for breast cancer! It's a simple and even reasonable mistake. Nancy thought everyone was buying pink products to cure breast cancer, not to fund Planned Parenthood.
As a pro-lifer (and I am), I've wanted to participate in the 3 day walk for life and buy the pink stuff, but I haven't. So I'm a zealot I guess, because like it or not, no matter how much good medical care the offices may do by providing screenings and pap smears and the like (and I'm ceding this turf in an attempt to appear reasonable), they still participated in a fundamental evil, aborting around an average of 289,750 a year. That they may do other good things does not eliminate the fact that they do this grave evil thing a lot of times. It means they should stop doing the evil thing, because it is evil.
I got told that it was only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does. That abortion is 3% of what they do, or 10% which is what the Washington Post said, or more from other sites, is irrelevant. That they did other good things is also irrelevant. The trains ran on time is not an argument. It is an inditement.
Komen had decided to not renew grants or allow further grants from Planned Parenthood. Those who are prolife rejoiced and ran out to buy pink stuff. The outcry on the opposite side as a result was that a Caliphate had taken over. Hoop dresses and tee-totalling would surely be next. We were condemning women to die by wanting to not fund a charitable organization that does perform abortion via grants from another charitable organization. Pro-lifers, right wingers, Christian zealots! The moral equivalent of pond scum in the eyes of those for whom choice is paramount over life because we who disagreed wanted to be able to give to this charity in good faith.
I will say, this public fight over abortion, (and that is what the fight is about), has been instructive. I have learned that Planned Parenthood does provide contraception, but with respect to screenings, it mostly does referrals for actual mammograms.
I've learned that there is a solid perception that Planned Parenthood is necessary especially in poor neighborhoods because otherwise, people wouldn't be able to receive necessary medical care. I've learned that people think anyone who disagrees with Planned Parenthood must hate women and want them to die. I must have been bombarded 20 times with notes indicating that Planned Parenthood was the ONLY choice in poor neighborhoods.
A quick google search in DC said, that's not true. A second one in New York indicated that wasn't true either. I typed in "Where Can I Find a Free Mammogram in...insert city" and "Where can I get a free breast cancer screening?" respectively. Planned Parenthood was not the first, second or third page worth of searching. Now I admit, I didn't do a search for every major municipality, but the first two I did, Planned Parenthood didn't have a site in the first three pages of Google. If they were there, they were there stealthily, clandestine, not public, hidden under a few imbedded links within the site. Instead there were hospitals and Church affiliated health centers and Universities offering for over 40, for uninsured, for low or no cost. Some even offered rides. So I don't know how people (rich or poor) would know to go to Planned Parenthood for these services. They don't even advertise.
What was Planned Parenthood losing? Was the organization going to be utterly crippled? Susan G. Komen awarded them $700,000 last year, a grand total of 0.058 percent of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue. This is nothing compared to the $360 million that the US government gives the organisation every year (33 percent of their total budget).
So let's break this down. Planned Parenthood has 820 offices. They have an opperating budget of 1 billion. Using the percentage of .058, the annual total revenue of Planned Parenthood including grants is $1,206,896,552.00, meaning $206,896,552.00 comes out in excess of expenses a year, and each office brings in if all things were equal, $1,471,825.06. That's a lot of money. The CEOs at individual affiliates are well compensated too, with many making over 200K. If the $700,000
were divided over all 820 offices, it would come out to a loss of $853.00 per clinic. Boo fricken hoo.
Meanwhile, the Susan G. Komen charity for those brief 4 days it changed it's mind publically, had an uptick in donations of 100% or 1 million dollars in new revenue as reported at Lifenews.com. Planned Parenthood had pulled in an additional $400,000.00 and all without filling out those pesky grant papers, almost half a mill in content string free money.
And now we have the limbo of the Susan G. Komen foundation trying to do damage control. I still went to the store and consciously looked for something pink to purchase. All I could find was batteries. I needed batteries so I bought them. Will I buy pink in the future? I'm as iffy at the moment as the foundation itself, but I bought in good faith and I will let myself be content with that.
But what this has really revealed, is the most sacred thing for each of us: we have set before us fire and water, life and death.
Editorial Note: Where'd she get her stats? Her information?
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=Planned+Parenthood&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509
and http://ww5.komen.org/ and http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
and full disclosure: I read the Washington Post, the Daily Mail, Life News, Drudge Report and yes...wikipedia for both Komen and Planned Parenthood.
Some said it was political. Right wing politically active conservatives had been leaning on the Komen foundation. If they were, it explains why Romney was able to gain the higher ground in the GOP primaries. Clearly those right wing vast conspiracy types were focusing on the wrong target.
But maybe they just wanted to eat their favorite brand of yogurt in good conscience. I'm not saying there isn't a political element. Where there's money, there always is a political component. But I'm literate. I'm political. I'm pro-life. I'm invested. I'm involved. I haven't heard anything. Shoot! I must have the wrong decoder ring.
So why did Komen open this ugly can of worms? Why would they invite the grief they've endured since, so much so that there is some recanting going on?
Part of it was addressing the fact that Planned Parenthood is under Federal and several state investigations for medicade fraud and other abuses. Part of it was yes, the Pro-life activism which alerted the general public and specifically, those who hold that we must not support an institution that performs abortion, that the Susan G. Komen foundation did in fact give money to Planned Parenthood. Part of it was probably the exposes by Live Action and the testimony of people like Abby Johnson in her book Unplanned, about her conversion from being an administrator of a Planned Parenthood facility to becoming Pro-life, and Lila Rose's videos and James O'Keefe's investigations.
Then there was the personal component, the moral reasonings of Nancy G. Brinker, the founder of the Susan Komen foundation. She stated as such in her video youtube speech attempting to articulate her rational for the policy change. Another reason given was that Planned Parenthood doesn't do mammograms. Komen was eliminating a middle man and having the funding go to institutions that actually do the screenings. And I'm sure there are other reasons that I haven't discerned.
Based on Facebook alone, the world exploded. Suddenly Nancy G. Brinker despite 30 years of work, 30 years of raising money and awareness about the causes and treatments and screenings for breast cancer, was an evil woman and her foundation did no good, because it decided to distance itself from Planned Parenthood. After all, she made over half a million a year as CEO. EVIL 1%er. EVIL. Everyone should stop buying pink right away to shame Komen. I saw post after post after post.
Speaking up became a matter of shall I be silent when I agree with Komen to keep the friendship? But I couldn't stay silent. If they will boast of standing with Planned Parenthood, then they must know, I will tell them, there are other places that deserve your loyalty more, that could do what you want done without the taint of blood and death.
Stating that one applauded Komen was tantamount to hate speech. Which brings me to why I'm writing. Abortion is the unspoken ugliness that divides us. The debate itself is so politicized that no one is considered to believe what they believe out of good faith anymore. Further, if one person or organization switches sides, they are immediately condemned. Komen was publically scourged for switching sides.
There was no consideration by those who disagreed with the Komen foundation's new policy that perhaps there were other places that could do the screenings and provide treatment and assessment for breast cancer that didn't come with baggage. It must be a religous conspiracy. It must be stopped.
Not knowing the mind of this CEO, I still can imagine that she might have thought about it pragmatically; if pro-lifers were not buying pink ribbon products because of Planned Parenthood but everyone else was buying pink products to stop breast cancer, then if we stopped funding Planned Parenthood, everyone would buy pink products to help find a cure for breast cancer! It's a simple and even reasonable mistake. Nancy thought everyone was buying pink products to cure breast cancer, not to fund Planned Parenthood.
As a pro-lifer (and I am), I've wanted to participate in the 3 day walk for life and buy the pink stuff, but I haven't. So I'm a zealot I guess, because like it or not, no matter how much good medical care the offices may do by providing screenings and pap smears and the like (and I'm ceding this turf in an attempt to appear reasonable), they still participated in a fundamental evil, aborting around an average of 289,750 a year. That they may do other good things does not eliminate the fact that they do this grave evil thing a lot of times. It means they should stop doing the evil thing, because it is evil.
I got told that it was only 3% of what Planned Parenthood does. That abortion is 3% of what they do, or 10% which is what the Washington Post said, or more from other sites, is irrelevant. That they did other good things is also irrelevant. The trains ran on time is not an argument. It is an inditement.
Komen had decided to not renew grants or allow further grants from Planned Parenthood. Those who are prolife rejoiced and ran out to buy pink stuff. The outcry on the opposite side as a result was that a Caliphate had taken over. Hoop dresses and tee-totalling would surely be next. We were condemning women to die by wanting to not fund a charitable organization that does perform abortion via grants from another charitable organization. Pro-lifers, right wingers, Christian zealots! The moral equivalent of pond scum in the eyes of those for whom choice is paramount over life because we who disagreed wanted to be able to give to this charity in good faith.
I will say, this public fight over abortion, (and that is what the fight is about), has been instructive. I have learned that Planned Parenthood does provide contraception, but with respect to screenings, it mostly does referrals for actual mammograms.
I've learned that there is a solid perception that Planned Parenthood is necessary especially in poor neighborhoods because otherwise, people wouldn't be able to receive necessary medical care. I've learned that people think anyone who disagrees with Planned Parenthood must hate women and want them to die. I must have been bombarded 20 times with notes indicating that Planned Parenthood was the ONLY choice in poor neighborhoods.
A quick google search in DC said, that's not true. A second one in New York indicated that wasn't true either. I typed in "Where Can I Find a Free Mammogram in...insert city" and "Where can I get a free breast cancer screening?" respectively. Planned Parenthood was not the first, second or third page worth of searching. Now I admit, I didn't do a search for every major municipality, but the first two I did, Planned Parenthood didn't have a site in the first three pages of Google. If they were there, they were there stealthily, clandestine, not public, hidden under a few imbedded links within the site. Instead there were hospitals and Church affiliated health centers and Universities offering for over 40, for uninsured, for low or no cost. Some even offered rides. So I don't know how people (rich or poor) would know to go to Planned Parenthood for these services. They don't even advertise.
What was Planned Parenthood losing? Was the organization going to be utterly crippled? Susan G. Komen awarded them $700,000 last year, a grand total of 0.058 percent of Planned Parenthood's annual revenue. This is nothing compared to the $360 million that the US government gives the organisation every year (33 percent of their total budget).
So let's break this down. Planned Parenthood has 820 offices. They have an opperating budget of 1 billion. Using the percentage of .058, the annual total revenue of Planned Parenthood including grants is $1,206,896,552.00, meaning $206,896,552.00 comes out in excess of expenses a year, and each office brings in if all things were equal, $1,471,825.06. That's a lot of money. The CEOs at individual affiliates are well compensated too, with many making over 200K. If the $700,000
were divided over all 820 offices, it would come out to a loss of $853.00 per clinic. Boo fricken hoo.
Meanwhile, the Susan G. Komen charity for those brief 4 days it changed it's mind publically, had an uptick in donations of 100% or 1 million dollars in new revenue as reported at Lifenews.com. Planned Parenthood had pulled in an additional $400,000.00 and all without filling out those pesky grant papers, almost half a mill in content string free money.
And now we have the limbo of the Susan G. Komen foundation trying to do damage control. I still went to the store and consciously looked for something pink to purchase. All I could find was batteries. I needed batteries so I bought them. Will I buy pink in the future? I'm as iffy at the moment as the foundation itself, but I bought in good faith and I will let myself be content with that.
But what this has really revealed, is the most sacred thing for each of us: we have set before us fire and water, life and death.
Editorial Note: Where'd she get her stats? Her information?
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?keyword_list=Planned+Parenthood&Submit2=GO&bay=search.results
http://www.charitynavigator.org/index.cfm?bay=search.summary&orgid=4509
and http://ww5.komen.org/ and http://www.plannedparenthood.org/
and full disclosure: I read the Washington Post, the Daily Mail, Life News, Drudge Report and yes...wikipedia for both Komen and Planned Parenthood.
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