PRivate Funding Dropped for Planned Parenthood!

 From Joe Carter, an editor for The Gospel Coalition and the co-author of How to Argue Like Jesus: Learning Persuasion from History's Greatest Communicator.

Susan G. Komen Drops Funding for Planned Parenthood

The Story: The Associated Press reports that Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation's leading breast-cancer charity, will cut off its partnership through which it provided cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood clinics. According to Planned Parenthood, Komen grants totaled roughly $680,000 last year and $580,000 the year before, funding at least 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates. Komen told the AP that it ended its partnership with Planned Parenthood because of a congressional investigation into the organization.

The Background: The House Energy and Commerce Committee is investigating Planned Parenthood because of allegations of abuses ranging from financial disparities to its compliance with federal regulations on taxpayer funding to concerns that it is covering up cases of sex trafficking.

As Christianity Today notes, "activists on both sides of the abortion fight are speculating on the involvement of Karen Handel, Komen's senior vice president of public policy, in the decision." When Handel, the former secretary of state of Georgia, ran for governor in 2010, part of her platform was to eliminate state grants to Planned Parenthood.

What It Means: Planned Parenthood contends that the Komen foundation is yielding to longstanding pressure from anti-abortion groups, which Komen denies, says the New York Times.

As the NYT notes, "Anti-abortion advocates and Web sites have criticized the Komen foundation's financing of Planned Parenthood for years. And in December, LifeWay Christian Resources, which is owned by the Southern Baptist Convention, said it was recalling a pink Bible it was selling at Walmart and other stores because a dollar per copy was going to the Komen foundation and the foundation supported Planned Parenthood."

[Note: If you find a story our community should know about, please send the link to joe.carter *at* thegospelcoalition.org.]