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Senators urge Komen to reconsider funding decision

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WASHINGTON | Thu Feb 2, 2012 5:45pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Some two dozen Democrats in the Senate on Thursday called on breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure to reconsider its decision to cut off funding to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.

Senators Frank Lautenberg, Patty Murray and 20 other Democrats have prepared a letter, obtained by Reuters, saying Komen's move "threatens to reduce access to necessary, life-savings services. We urge Komen to reconsider its decision."

The letter comes after the charity said it was denying new money to Planned Parenthood, which is under attack from conservatives because it provides abortion and birth control services to women.

"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," said the letter, which was due to be sent later on Thursday.

The senators noted that Komen has helped fund about 170,000 clinical breast exams at Planned Parenthood, resulting in 6,400 referrals for mammograms.

(Reporting By Richard Cowan; Editing by Xavier Briand)
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Comments (2)
kannbrown wrote:
It may,in the end, be a financial decision. They are (and tend to act) a corporation, including protection of their name and branding, and less than 20 percent of donations going to their actual work. So, if donations drop dramatically, and it looks like it very well might (Planned Parenthood made up the loss in Komen’s contribution in less than a day from people who specifically stated they were going to contribute there INSTEAD of to the Komen foundation). Be interesting to see if, if this continues, whether it will change their decision given the political and social views of some of their top people.

Feb 02, 2012 5:29pm EST  --  Report as abuse
solas wrote:
Sen Frank Lautenberg is quite wealthy. Perhaps he can contribute to PP from his personal wealth, as Mayor Bloomberg has done. As a private citizen, Lautenberg and the other Senators are entitled to voice their opinions. But using a political pulpit to preach about the private funding decisions of a private corporation is disingenuous. The Senate has no business injecting itself into private corporation funding decisions, regardless of what drives those decisions.

Feb 03, 2012 11:32am EST  --  Report as abuse
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