By Bob Allen
The charity behind the well-known pink-ribbon campaign for breast cancer awareness is denying that its decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood was the result of pressure from conservative groups including the Southern Baptist Convention.
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation put messages on its website and YouTube claiming the decision was instead part of an efficiency review of its community-grant process.
Last year LifeWay Christian Resources stopped selling special pink-covered Bibles partially benefitting Komen based on reports that some of the foundation’s affiliates had given money to Planned Parenthood. Komen officials assured LifeWay those funds were used only for breast cancer screening and awareness, but the publisher said it didn’t want to be identified even indirectly with the nation’s largest provider of reproductive health services, including abortion.
LifeWay President Thom Rainer told Baptist Press that he didn’t know if LifeWay’s decision had an impact on Komen’s decision to cut ties with Planned Parenthood, but it could open the door to reconsidering the relationship between LifeWay and Komen.
For each copy of the Here’s Hope Breast Cancer Awareness Bible, published by LifeWay’s B&H publishing arm, $1 was to be donated to Susan G. Komen, an organization that raises money to fight breast cancer with fundraisers including the annual 5K Komen Race for the Cure. The Bibles were shipped to retailers like Walmart but not sold in LifeWay Christian Stores.
The plan was scuttled after the American Life League reported that 18 Komen affiliates contributed about $569,000 to Planned Parenthood affiliates in the United States during 2009-10. Since the recall, LifeWay officials have been wondering what to do with pink Bibles piled in the company’s distribution center.
“We are just beginning to discuss our next steps, including the possibility of re-engaging the partnership with Komen,” Rainer told Christianity Today. Other possibilities include removing the Komen information and giving the Bibles to a missions organization or another ministry.
“There’s nothing wrong with the Bibles,” said LifeWay spokesperson Marty King. “We just have no business being in even a perceived relationship with Planned Parenthood.”
The Komen foundation said the decision involving Planned Parenthood was “widely mischaracterized” as caving in to pressure from the Religious Right.
“We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics,” the statement said.
Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg, however, said sources with direct knowledge of Komen’s decision-making process told him the new policy was adopted as an excuse to cut out Planned Parenthood.
Mollie Williams, the organization’s top public health official, who resigned immediately following the Komen board’s decision to cut funding for Planned Parenthood, said in a statement that she would not comment on the reason she quit in respect of confidentiality of her former employer.
“However, anyone who knows me personally would tell you that I am an advocate for women’s health,” she said. “I have dedicated my career to fighting for the rights of the marginalized and underserved, and I believe it would be a mistake for any organization to bow to political pressure and compromise its mission.”
“I have deep admiration for Susan G. Komen for the Cure and the millions of women who benefit from Komen’s work. It was an honor to oversee and expand their public health efforts during my six years there,” Williams said. “At the same time, I respect the work of Planned Parenthood, including their lifesaving efforts to detect cancer in its earliest stages. The divide between these two very important organizations saddens me.”