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Planned Parenthood’s recent campaign of coercion against the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation is an excellent example of just how far it will go to oppose our common-sense efforts to lower the number of abortions in our state.
The idea that anyone would suggest Komen had a political agenda is absurd. Komen is a breast-cancer organization—that’s what it does. Planned Parenthood is a gigantic bully, using Komen as its own personal punching bag.
Just when I’d begun to believe that those presuming to speak for Komen couldn’t possibly sink any lower, I’ve (once again) been proven wrong. Having been foiled in their attempt to defund Planned Parenthood, a new line of attack has been launched: Blame Planned Parenthood and paint PP as a vindictive bully with an agenda. It’s as offensive and insulting to any lucid person’s intelligence as it is an attempt to rewrite history and reframe the propaganda battle.
If you’re going to lie, would it be too much to ask that you at least put some effort into it?
It’s a typical and predictable Right-wing tactic: blame the victim and turn them into the bully. Using specious “facts” and making stuff up as you go is merely a tool of the trade. NEVER let the truth get in the way of good propaganda. Especially when you consider that Nancy Brinker defended Planned Parenthood in her 2010 memoir:
When you donate to a local SGK affiliate or support a walker in a Race for the Cure, 75 percent of that money stays right there in your neighborhood to serve local women. We don’t spend money building Susan G. Komen Breast-Cancer-R-Us facilities; we get the most bang for our buck by funding services that can be offered through existing local infrastructure. The grants in question supplied breast health counseling, screening, and treatments to rural women, poor women, Native American women, many women of color who were underserved — if served at all — in areas where Planned Parenthood facilities were often the only infrastructure available. Though it meant losing corporate money from Curves, we were not about to turn our backs on these women. Somehow this position translated to the utterly false assertion that SGK funds abortions.
Move along, people…no hypocrisy here….
Atteberry seems to see nothing at all wrong with using the fact that Planned Parenthood is being investigated as sufficient reason to defund them.
Planned Parenthood protests that the inquiry is politically motivated; however, usually where there is smoke, there is fire.
What Atteberry completely ignores is that Congress can investigate anyone, and that there are no shortage of Republican ideologues ready, willing, and able to “investigate” Planned Parenthood for any and all manners of sins, whether real or perceived. Then there’s the idea of “innocent until proven guilty”, which Atteberry evidently feels need not apply to people or groups whom she happens to disagree with.
Planned Parenthood claimed Komen’s decision to end the grants was made because it had been “bullied” by pro-lifers, a claim Komen denies. Planned Parenthood then undertook one of the biggest bullying campaigns America has seen. It went into a “scorched earth” tactic, falsely claiming women’s health was endangered and demanding that its grants be reinstated. In the end, Komen caved to this unprecedented pressure and reworded its statement.
Atteberry, like most anti-choice zealots who hate Planned Parenthood more than democracy and atheism, amply demonstrates her tenuous devotion to facts. Planned Parenthood impacts one of every five American women, through all manner of health services. As for Komen being “bullied” by pro-lifers..well, that’s pretty much spot on. It’s no secret that Komen has long been under pressure from Social Conservatives. The decision to defund Planned Parenthood was designed to pander to those who’ve had PP in their cross-hairs for years. For Atteberry to claim that Komen was the real victim in this sorry episode is absurd. Then again, Atteberry’s dishonesty and lack of integrity speaks for itself.
Handel is also claiming to be a victim, because in her fevered imagination, Planned Parenthood evidently broke an agreement to remain silent about being defunded.
Did Planned Parenthood cut a secret deal to keep silent about losing funding from the cancer-fighting Susan G. Komen foundation—and then break the deal?….
In an interview with The Daily Beast, Handel said Komen and Planned Parenthood in December had come to an understanding—a “ladies’ agreement,” as Handel described it—not to discuss the fact that Komen had decided to cut its financial support.
Right; so Planned Parenthood was going to acquiesce to being adversely impacted by what was clearly a politically-motivated decision? What could PP have possibly had to gain from such an agreement?
This past December, the president of Komen, Liz Thompson, met with the president of Planned Parenthood, Cecile Richards, to discuss the decision, according to Handel. “There was an open and candid conversation about the controversy and the effect on Komen. There was a gentle ladies’ agreement, if you will, that no one was going to go to the press about this,” Handel said. In the agreement, she said, Komen offered to continue funding current grants, but not future ones.
“We wanted a smooth transition,” she continued. “What happened is nothing short of a disgrace. Cecile Richards put this issue in the press. There was a coordinated effort to get sites like moveon.org and change.org involved. There was an orchestrated, premeditated attempt to put this issue in the press. Talk about betrayal by Planned Parenthood—against an organization that took up for it for years.”
Did Handel really believe that no one, inside Planned Parenthood or out, would object to cutting off funding for breast cancer screenings? Did she really think that those who strongly support PP wouldn’t speak up? I don’t know if that makes Handel arrogant or incredibly stupid (or both), but she clearly had no idea of the political realities involved with defunding an organization dedicated to providing health care to women, many of whom have no other source for that care.
Both Atteberry and Handel seem to be politically tone deaf. They honestly believes themselves, and Komen, to be victims of an organized campaign of coordinated attacks by those on the Left committed to killing babies.
I can’t help but wonder what planet these women spend most of their time on….
I don’t know what else I can do to make the case that it’s time to defund Komen. I will continue to write about Komen’s treachery and hypocrisy as if if warranted, but I’ve made my case. The rest is up to y’all as you make your decisions about where you want to donate money. Choose wisely….
