Komen Foundation fund-raisers criticized by pro-life group

DALLAS, Texas — For nearly 20 years the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation has been raising money for breast cancer research. In fact, the group has become one of the nation’s leading non-profit organizations and has raised more than $250 million over the past two decades.

But a pro-life group says the Komen Foundation may actually be contributing to the problem of breast cancer by funding organizations that promote abortion.

In a statement released May 3, Karen Malec, a 15-year cancer survivor and spokeswoman for the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer, said that since abortion became legal in 1973, the rate of breast cancer has doubled. She said that if the Komen Foundation and its supporters were truly interested in reducing rates of breast cancer, they would not give money to Planned Parenthood and other organizations that promote abortion.

“Every year, sneakered women raise (money) for cancer businesses that are more interested in research than disease prevention,” Malec said. “Breast cancer rates haven’t declined. They’ve increased.”

She said that more than 211,000 cases of invasive breast cancer and 59,000 cases of “in situ” breast cancer are expected this year. One in 7.5 American women develops the disease in her lifetime. In 1970, one in 12 women developed the disease.

Malec’s mention of “sneakered women” refers to the Komen Foundation’s most widely known and most successful fund-raising method—a series of 5K races around the country called The Race for the Cure. More than a million people participate in races across the nation, with each participant raising money through sponsors. Proceeds from races go to research and education projects, and each local Komen chapter awards grants to local organizations that have breast cancer research or awareness programs.

The Komen Foundation gives millions of dollars each year to hundreds of non-profit organizations—including several Planned Parenthood chapters.

The Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer points to 28 out of 37 worldwide studies that have independently linked induced abortion with breast cancer. These studies suggest that induced abortions cause biological changes to occur in women’s breasts that make them more susceptible to cancer.

The coalition has criticized the Komen Foundation for awarding grants to Planned Parenthood, an organization that provides abortions.

“We find it appalling that an anti-breast cancer foundation would help fund Planned Parenthood whose sales of abortion ‘services’ contribute significantly to the breast cancer rates in this country,” Malec said in a news release.

Planned Parenthood denied the connection between abortion and breast cancer in an official statement.

“The possible link between induced abortion and breast cancer is a theory whose principal promoters oppose abortion regardless of its safety,” the statement read. “The theory awaits conclusive confirmation by medical researchers.”

EP News
Published, June 2005

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