Dear Ambassador Brinker,
We write to express our disappointment with Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s decision to cut funding for breast cancer prevention, screening, and education at Planned Parenthood health centers. This troubling decision threatens to reduce access to necessary, life-saving services. We urge Komen to reconsider its decision.
Planned Parenthood is a trusted provider of health care for women and men. More than 90 percent of the services provided by Planned Parenthood are primary and preventative including wellness exams and cancers screenings that save lives. Each year, Planned Parenthood health clinics provide 750,000 breast exams, 770,000 pap tests and nearly 4 million tests and treatments for sexually transmitted diseases. Twenty percent of all women in the U.S. have visited a Planned Parenthood health center.
For the past five years, grants to local affiliates of Planned Parenthood have been an important part of Planned Parenthood’s work to protect women from breast cancer. Komen funding for Planned Parenthood has provided nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams and resulted in 6,400 referrals for mammograms. In 2011 alone, grants from Komen provided Planned Parenthood with roughly $650,000 in funding for breast cancer prevention, screening, and education. According to a recent statement by Komen, “In some areas of the U.S., our affiliates have determined a Planned Parenthood clinic to be the best or only local place where women can receive breast health care.”
It would be tragic if any woman —let alone thousands of women — lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack.
We earnestly hope that you will put women’s health before partisan politics and reconsider this decision for the sake of the women who depend on both your organizations for access to the health care they need.

The letter is signed by Senators Lautenberg, Murray, Mikulski, Boxer, Cantwell, Gillibrand, Menendez, Wyden, Blumenthal, Shaheen, Begich, merkley, Tester, Akaka, Sanders, (Sherrod) Brown, Leahy, Baucus, Cardin, Feinstein, Franken, and Kerry.

Emphasis mine on 'partisan politics' because I find that horribly ironic in a letter signed by members of only one party.

Obviously the content of the deliberately public letter contains no threatening or inappropriate language, and I think we can skip formal analysis of it. I'm quite sure most of the signatories are speaking honestly and passionately here anyway, my issue is with them sending it at all.



One can usually rely on someone grabbing a shovel anyway



I'm not accusing them of anything illegal here, even on the off chance someone violated one of the various arcane rules. I'm not questioning their intent either. It is political pressure, and its directed at a private charity. I don't want throw too much mud but imagine if a major Rape charity cut funding to self-defense courses because the local dojo also ran a pistol range. I'd think it pretty screwed up if half the GOP senators wrote a public letter to them, and I'm pretty sure media reaction would be negative.



I won't deny Komen played a role in their own current mess, I'm just expressing generalized bitterness and cynicism about how good causes get hijacked, worsened by the fact that from a realistic perspective its often the best thing for the cause. I've no real fingers to point at anyone, this is just a dumb thing which happened.