Bad Week for Life
It's humiliating. The spectacle of the Komen Foundation's announcement severing its relationship with Planned Parenthood, and subsequent rout in the face of a firestorm of from abortionists makes the organization the picture of the fool. The affair is a major setback for perhaps the two most important life issues of our day. In the fight against cancer one of the most effective players is badly tarnished, maybe irretrievably. For the pro-life movement it may be one of the biggest public relations disasters since Roe v Wade, worse even than the excommunication of a Phoenix nun for approving an abortion to save the life of the mother.
Komen may have been the most universally respected institution in the country. Those pink ribbons are everywhere. Professional football players were wearing pink shoes for heaven's sake, not necessarily for Komen but a lot of people thought Komen when they saw the shoes. The Race for the Cure draws thousands at events every year in every major city, and makes headline news in every major media outlet. They spend more on cancer research than anybody outside the federal government. To be against Komen was to be for cancer.
Not any more. Nobody respects a fool. You have to be embarrassed for them. They will still do much good work. People will still turn out to support them. But it won't be the same. They will forever be associated with abortion in a way they were not before. They were about cancer, nothing more. Now they are about something else.
Many in the pro-life community boycotted Komen over the years because of the grants some affiliates made to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening. Others including me resisted because the grants were restricted to the stated purpose and there was no endorsement of or cooperation with morally objectionable practices. I can't say that any more. With their very public apology at the national level it's hard to see how they could, in future, object to pretty much anything Planned Parenthood chooses to do with their money. Who would listen? What would Komen do? Defund them again?
The boycotters can't feel vindicated. This whole thing has blown up in their faces too. Obamacare not withstanding, Planned Parenthood has been on the defensive lately with one state after another denying them taxpayer dollars. Now the abortion faithful have been revitalized at a stroke. They have been allowed to portray themselves as standing for women's health. If cancer screening is not provided through the nation's most prominent abortion mill it will not be provided at all. A moral outrage is taking a victory lap.
Pro-life leaders are trying to put a brave face on this, taking refuge in the ambiguity of Komen's statement that Planned Parenthood will be eligible to apply for future grants. It's wishful thinking. This fight is over. There have been too many missed opportunities for dialog for too many years, too much judgement. I can't see why Komen would take much comfort in expressions of support from people who have been so critical of them in the past. No, Komen strayed from the plantation and found it cold outside. They are not likely to stray again
So what are people like me, the sick at heart, the people who hate cancer and hate abortion, what are we to do? First we grieve. Tomorrow we look for something else.
Komen may have been the most universally respected institution in the country. Those pink ribbons are everywhere. Professional football players were wearing pink shoes for heaven's sake, not necessarily for Komen but a lot of people thought Komen when they saw the shoes. The Race for the Cure draws thousands at events every year in every major city, and makes headline news in every major media outlet. They spend more on cancer research than anybody outside the federal government. To be against Komen was to be for cancer.
Not any more. Nobody respects a fool. You have to be embarrassed for them. They will still do much good work. People will still turn out to support them. But it won't be the same. They will forever be associated with abortion in a way they were not before. They were about cancer, nothing more. Now they are about something else.
Many in the pro-life community boycotted Komen over the years because of the grants some affiliates made to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening. Others including me resisted because the grants were restricted to the stated purpose and there was no endorsement of or cooperation with morally objectionable practices. I can't say that any more. With their very public apology at the national level it's hard to see how they could, in future, object to pretty much anything Planned Parenthood chooses to do with their money. Who would listen? What would Komen do? Defund them again?
The boycotters can't feel vindicated. This whole thing has blown up in their faces too. Obamacare not withstanding, Planned Parenthood has been on the defensive lately with one state after another denying them taxpayer dollars. Now the abortion faithful have been revitalized at a stroke. They have been allowed to portray themselves as standing for women's health. If cancer screening is not provided through the nation's most prominent abortion mill it will not be provided at all. A moral outrage is taking a victory lap.
Pro-life leaders are trying to put a brave face on this, taking refuge in the ambiguity of Komen's statement that Planned Parenthood will be eligible to apply for future grants. It's wishful thinking. This fight is over. There have been too many missed opportunities for dialog for too many years, too much judgement. I can't see why Komen would take much comfort in expressions of support from people who have been so critical of them in the past. No, Komen strayed from the plantation and found it cold outside. They are not likely to stray again
So what are people like me, the sick at heart, the people who hate cancer and hate abortion, what are we to do? First we grieve. Tomorrow we look for something else.
posted by Onfoot at 10:33 PM
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