|
No
apology to Susan G. Komen for the Cure
PRAISED BE JESUS
CHRIST!
(Now and Forever)
In response to parishioner requests for clarification, the Pastoral
Office for Family Life issued a statement, which I approved, on the
Komen Race for the Cure that will take place in Indianapolis on April
19. In its March 23 issue, The Catholic Moment reported the
statement under the headline: “Local Church members urged to avoid Komen
Race.” The story was picked up, in part, by television and secular
newspapers. Letters, phone calls and e-mails have come in from both
sides. One editorial demanded that I issue a public apology.
The executive director of the Indianapolis Komen affiliate (who at one
time served as vice president for administration and then as acting
director for Planned Parenthood of Greater Indiana) informed me by mail
that the statement was “filled with inaccurate and misleading
information.” She wrote that “the Indianapolis affiliate of Susan G.
Komen for the Cure does not provide funds to Planned Parenthood.” In
fact, to quote her, “no Komen affiliate in Indiana is funding a grant to
Planned Parenthood. Moreover, Komen headquarters has never awarded
grants to Planned Parenthood.” Noting that 25 percent of all dollars
raised by the Indianapolis affiliate are sent to the Komen Research
Grant Program, she added, “Komen has not funded any grants involving
human embryonic stem cell tissue.”
Still, the Associated Press reports that nationwide in 2007 Komen
affiliates in fact contributed $374,253 to Planned Parenthood. Moreover,
the Indianapolis affiliate did make at least one grant to Planned
Parenthood in 2004. And, there is even more to the story. For that
reason I continue to urge members of the Catholic Diocese of Lafayette
to carefully consider what is involved should they support the April 19
Komen Race for the Cure. While screening for, treatment of, and research
to prevent and cure breast cancer as such is a noble cause deserving
support, Komen is unacceptable because grants are given to some who fail
to respect the sanctity of life. The hope, of course, is that by shining
light on the realities involved, organizations like Komen will direct
all funds raised to the causes and cures for breast cancer while
refusing financial or other support to any organization that promotes
the destruction of human life and/or abortion.
As a sidebar, the statement issued by the Pastoral Office for Family
Life encouraged that donations that would have gone to Komen be made
directly to local Catholic hospitals that provide breast cancer services
such as detection, treatment, research and patient support groups. This
suggestion, reported in The Catholic Moment, was omitted by the
secular media. St. Vincent Breast Center and St. Vincent Oncology
Services (Indianapolis) are worthy of consideration.
Opposition to the Komen Race is rooted in researched realities. First,
local Komen affiliates keep 75 percent of the proceeds from the Komen
for the Cure Races for use in their regions. Komen annual reports
clearly show that in Indiana and elsewhere those affiliates sometimes
provide breast cancer grants to Planned Parenthood. As reported by the
Associated Press, nearly $375,000 in Komen funds went to Planned
Parenthood last year. So what? As long as the funds were designated for
a good cause, why is there a problem? One only need look at Planned
Parenthood as an organization.
For those unaware of the fact, Planned Parenthood is one of this
country’s leading abortion providers. It is estimated that one out of
every four abortions in this country takes place at Planned Parenthood
facilities, and those are not free. Abortions are said to account for 35
percent of Planned Parenthood’s clinic income. Support of Planned
Parenthood is unacceptable in any form precisely because abortion is a
big part of its business.
On its Web site, www.komen.org, Komen concedes that a woman’s “current
or recent use of birth control pills” could increase her chances of
developing breast cancer. Yet it allows its affiliates to support
Planned Parenthood, which distributes millions of birth control pills
annually.
Second, the National Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, which gets at least
25 percent of the proceeds from local fund-raisers, provides a
substantial amount of money to organizations whose research includes
embryonic stem cells and aborted fetal tissue (http://jcem.endojournals.org/cgi/reprint/74/4/879.pdf?ck-nck). For a full list of Komen-financed
research grants, see the Komen 2007 Form 990 Parent Return at
http://cms.komen.org/komen/AboutUs/FinancialInformation/index.htm?ss.Sourceodeld=382&ss.
SourceSiteld=Komen. Affiliate grants given by state can be found on the
2007 Form 990 Group Return.
Yet a third concern about Komen is rooted in the organization’s denial
of any abortion-breast cancer link. The Komen Foundation, citing a 2003
cancer institute study, denies that abortion may lead to the development
of breast cancer, a conclusion that is in dispute.
Dr. Janet Daling, a leading cancer epidemiologist, considers herself
“pro-choice.” Yet, she has said, “I would have loved to have found no
association between breast cancer and abortion, but our research is rock
solid, and our data is accurate. It is not a matter of believing, it’s a
matter of what is.” (See “The Cover Up,” Coalition on Abortion/Breast
Cancer, March 27, 2008, at
www.abortionbreastcancer.com/coverup3.htm.)
Additional citations can be found in The Journal of American Physicians
and Surgeons (Winter 2005, Summer 2007) (www.jpands.org) and medical
groups recognizing this breast cancer link (http://www.abortionbreastcancer.com/medicalgroups/index.htm).
The rationale for the pastoral office statement regarding Catholic
participation in the Komen Race for the Cure, which I co-signed, is
based on the fact that Catholic teaching strongly opposes any procedure
that willfully eliminates innocent human life from the time of
conception to natural death. Included in this opposition is abortion and
embryonic stem-cell research, and the use of aborted fetuses for
research. The Catechism of the Catholic Church instructs (2258):
“Human life is sacred because from its beginning it involves the
creative action of God and it remains forever in a special relationship
with the Creator, who is its sole end. God alone is the Lord of life
from its beginning until its end: no one can under any circumstance
claim for himself the right directly to destroy an innocent human
being.” The
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Donum Vitae (Feb.
27, 1987) stated: “No objective, even though noble in itself, such as a
foreseeable advantage to science, to other human beings, or to society,
can in any way justify experimentation on living human embryos” (I.4).
The bottom line is that Komen affiliates as recently as 2007 offered
financial support to Planned Parenthood. Komen endorses both embryonic
stem-cell research that requires the destruction of embryonic human life
and aborted fetal tissue research. Financial records available to the
public show that millions of dollars have been given to organizations
that further this research, such as the American Association for Cancer
Research, Massachusetts General Hospital Research, Yale University
Research and UCLA, which launched a $20 million stem cell institute in
2005. It is
hoped that Komen will redirect its fund-raising efforts to breast health
education, screening, treatment and research that respects Catholic
moral principles. Until that happens, in spite of the beneficial work
done in the area of breast cancer detection, prevention, research and
treatment, as the result of current Komen grants a great many people who
are opposed to embryonic stem-cell research and abortion will
unwittingly give support to those activities if they contribute their
time, talent and treasure to Susan G. Komen for the Cure and its
affiliates. |
