On MSNBC yesterday, Sen. Barbara Boxer denounced the decision by the breast cancer awareness group Susan G. Komen to pull funding grants from Planned Parenthood.
“I was not born yesterday, as most of your viewers can tell, and the fact is, I’m reminded of the McCarthy era,” said Boxer referring to the organization’s argument that Planned Parenthood was under investigation by a congressman. “Are they going to the attack the American Lung Association? The YMCA? the YWCA?”
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A visibly upset Andrea Mitchell attacked the organization’s founder Ambassador Nancy Brinker repeatedly for what Mitchell believed looked like a political decision.
“Our issue is grant excellence, they do pass-through grants, with their screening grants they send people to other facilities, we want to do more direct service grants,” said Brinker.
“Look at your Facebook page! . . people are cutting ribbons!. . .your branding is at stake!” Andrea Mitchell replied, repeatedly interrupting Brinker’s explanation.
Senator Patty Murry joined Boxer adding that she believed the decision was based on a “partisan witch-hunt in the House” that was “dangerous for women and dangerous for organizations.”
22 Senate Democrats sent a letter to the Susan G. Komen organization protesting the decision. Full text below:
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 22 senators who signed the letter are:
Mark Begich (D-Alaska)
Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.)
Daniel Akaka (D-Hawaii)
Ben Cardin (D-Md.)
Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.)
John Kerry (D-Mass.)
Al Franken (D-Minn.)
Max Baucus (D-Mt.)
Jon Tester (D-Mt.)
Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)
Bob Menendez (D-N.J.)
Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio)
Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)
Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.)
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.)
Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.)
Patty Murray (D-Wash.)
