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Yesterday the news broke that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation had decided to pull its funding from Planned Parenthood, effectively ending Komen-supported breast exams and mammograms, primary tools in detecting breast cancer early, and, in so doing, saving lives. People are outraged, not least for the reasoning given for cutting the funding: Planned Parenthood is under a Congressional investigation launched by Florida Republican Cliff Stearns over reports that public money was spent improperly on abortions. What do abortions have to do with mammograms?
Komen Foundation spokeswoman Leslie Aun said that "the main factor in the decision was a new rule adopted by Komen that prohibits grants to organizations being investigated by local, state or federal authorities," which, thanks to Stearns, has disqualified Planned Parenthood from receiving funding. But this also coincides with Komen's appointment of Georgia Republican and "anti-choice activist" Karen Handel as SVP last year, which seems evidence to some of a thinly veiled move to undermine reproductive rights for women, particularly the right to an abortion. If breast cancer screenings have become the fall guy for supposedly "abortion-happy clinics," what are women faced with dying of breast cancer supposed to do?