Planned Parenthood Only Does 5% of Komen-Funded Breast Exams

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Feb 3, 2012   |   6:07PM   |   Washington, DC

The debate over whether Komen has or hasn’t stopped funding the Planned Parenthood abortion business continues, but pro-life activist Andy Moore puts the numbers in perspective.

Even if Komen were to discontinue every penny of funding to the nation’s biggest abortion business, it would still be funding hundreds of thousands of breast exams for women. Moreover, Planned Parenthood doesn’t receive such a large amount of funding from Komen that its breast exams would suffer (keep in mind it doesn’t do mammograms).

As Moore notes:

According to Planned Parenthood’s own figures,

  • Of the 800,000 breast exams Planned Parenthood does each year, only 34,000 are funded by Susan G. Komen. That’s just 4.25%.
  • Komen funded 700,000 breast exams in 2011. Of these, only an est. 34,000 were done by Planned Parenthood. That’s 4.86%.

What do these percentages mean for women seeking breast exams?

  • Planned Parenthood has lost funding for only 5% of the breast exams they conduct. If Planned Parenthood can genuinely not afford to give this 5% of women breast exams, these women can easily go to another free or low-cost center.
  • Susan G. Komen has not ceased providing funding for the breast exams they were funding Planned Parenthood to carry out (under 5% of the total breast exams Komen funds). Susan G. Komen will instead redirect that funding to other centers that provide breast exams, and that are on the front lines of women’s health care.

Let’s be absolutely clear. The accusation against Susan G. Komen that they will be responsible for jeopardizing women’s access to lifesaving breast exams, or that they will be responsible for women dying due to a breast exam being unavailable are patently unfounded scaremongering.

Tell Komen: Don’t Cave on Cutting Planned Parenthood Funding