The War on Tits

It irritates me when women make war on women. It also irritates me that the conservative right calls their anti-abortion sentiments the "right-to-life". Because if you are ‘pro-life’ then everyone else must be against life. Many of us say ‘choice,’ instead of "the right to choose." The right to choose what you will do with your body does not mean that you are against life. In fact, quite the contrary. What it means is that you have the right to live your life the way you want to. And just let me say this: no one, but no one gets pregnant as a joke. It is always intentional or accidental – unless you’re under 18, when you have no idea of the consequences, and then it’s just stupid. The same people that are anti-abortion are also people who don’t particularly care what happens to the kid once they are born. One of the Presidential Candidates even said that even if a woman got raped, she should be made to carry the baby because being pregnant was a blessing from God. I wonder when God shared that information with him.

But that is not what I wanted to blob about. 90% of what Planned Parenthood, does, (aside from being under attack, and now investigation, by the conservative right), is to provide breast exams for women who cannot afford it, and give counsel to people who need to be educated about birth control. Only 3% (and you may feel that is too much) is related to abortion. Shame on the Komen Foundation. Their excuse for the elimination of grant money to PP (now restored), was that Planned Parenthood was under Congressional investigation. I don’t have to tell you by whom. And while they rewrote their Grant requirements to eliminate any organization under investigation, (regardless of reason), they did not re-write their sponsor/donor rules to include corporations under investigation. So it’s OK to take money from corporations that are suspect—like the Bank of America --but not to give it.

The fact that they were surprised by the backlash was amazing. There are people who have mammograms, who don’t believe in abortion. (BTW there are also men who get breast cancer. ) It will never be the same for them. As the largest of the breast cancer organizations, they had a special place, a credibility, and a fine reputation that will never be restored. There were policies established by Komen with which I did not agree—like you shouldn’t just treat the cancer, you should treat the whole person, (I think first things first.) But they were certainly worthy of financial support, not only from corporations, but from people like me, who walked, ran, and attended a variety of events – because everyone knows someone who has had to deal with the epidemic in some way. Whether that person is their wife, mother, child, or friend, no one has gone untouched.

Here’s the good news, Komen is only one of many breast cancer related organizations. We can still give to help eliminate the disease, but we may need to look beyond the largest, and opt for one that is local, or at least beyond National Politics. Women and men all across the country, (regardless of Party) were enraged and insulted by the presumption by Komen, that we all were stupid enough to believe that this was not a political decision. Their refusal to give a grant to Planned Parenthood made it political. Clearly, they need a new policy/political director – that is, if they even manage to survive over the next few years. We’re just sayin’… Iris