The Friday FYI : Planned Parenthood, Susan G Komen, and the Embroiled world of anti-abortion legislation.
In what (interestingly) was something of an Occupy Facebook-type viral meme yesterday, outrage exploded all over the internet (and presumably the real world— I wouldn’t know because I wasn’t there) over the Susan G. Komen Foundation’s decision to cut their grants to Planned Parenthood.
Less than 1% of the Komen Foundation’s grant budget was allocated to Planned Parenthood last year. But that $700,000 was helping to provide a lifeline for the organization and the absence of the grant will be felt by the women in America most affected by inequality, poor education, and lack of access to tools and resources to escape poverty.
The abortion issue is so hard to address— not only because it’s hard not to take a strong stance on it, but also because it’s just complex. The easiest perspective belongs to Bill Clinton, when he expressed his hope that Americans keep abortion “safe, legal, and rare.”
No matter your views on abortion, however, the oversimplification of the services Planned Parenthood provides is a dangerous issue. As Mayor Bloomberg said yesterday, “Politics have no place in health care.” And the decision on the part of the Komen Foundation is eerily reminiscent of the Lowe’s Hardware chain’s decision to pull their advertisement allocation from “All American Muslim” after getting backlash from groups who find Muslims offensive. For a movement that has so much stood for open access to health care and preventative education and services for women, the pull feels like a betrayal for many who have donated to the Komen Foundation in the hope that those women most in need would benefit from the donation.
Before anyone runs off and rail for or against the Komen Foundation’s decision, take a look at the New York Times’ analysis: that state legislatures have had a serious uptick in recent abortion-related legislation, with over sixty major abortion laws enacted by states in 2011. And much of that legislation has served to limit the average American woman’s access to basic healthcare.
Regardless of your opinion on abortion, it’s hard to argue that basic healthcare services and education don’t have a positive impact on the inequality and social mobility issues that are hindering the American economic recovery. Maybe more importantly, the midst of a multi-year recession isn’t a great time to make long-term issues like education and access to health care top-of-mind for our government (viz. the sheer volume of abortion-related legislation proposed this year) when our federal government is exhibiting the level of dysfunction and pre-Presidential Election folly that we’ve seen in the past year.
