Komen Breast Cancer Group Scandal Over Abortion Donations Hits Home 
Email this article
Printer friendly page
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
October 24, 2004
Evansville, IN (LifeNews.com) — When the Hispanic outreach director for the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation resigned in September, her actions set off a debate around the country about the donations the group makes to other organizations.
Eve Sanchez Silver, also a medical analyst for Komen, resigned when she found out the charity had given hundreds of thousands of dollars to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion business.
According to former Komen public relations director Kristin Kelly, Komen affiliates awarded $38.4 million in grants to support community outreach programs in 2003. That figure includes 21 grants to local Planned Parenthood abortion businesses totaling more than $475,000.
Now, local breast cancer advocates are questioning their participation in Komen.
A woman in Evansville, Indiana says she is pulling her support for the Evansville Race for the Cure until Komen stops giving grants to Planned Parenthood.
Cecilia Phillips says she is also concerned the breast cancer group won’t acknowledge the link between the disease and induced abortion.
"My concern is that a lot of people who support the Komen Foundation would not be supporting Planned Parenthood and they should know to what extent they are," said Phillips, a therapist at Hope Unlimited Counseling.
"It’s just a terrible conflict," she said, according to an Evansville Courier and Press report. "I’m not saying we should ignore breast cancer. I’m just saying let’s be choosier about how we get the job done."
A representative of the Komen Greater Evansville Affiliate told the Evansville newspaper that her group doesn’t provide funds to the abortion business.
But that doesn’t alleviate Phillips’ concerns — because other Komen affiliates have given grants to Planned Parenthood. In fact, Planned Parenthood of Indiana received two Komen grants this year, totaling $18,588, according to the paper.
Sanchez Silver, a two-time breast cancer survivor and Komen’s Hispanic advisor, said the decision to send Komen money to Planned Parenthood came at a time when local Komen affiliates were struggling to find enough funds to keep afloat.
"Our [Komen] Advisory Councils were all aware of grassroots efforts in need of funding all across the country," Sanchez Silver told LifeNews.com.
Sanchez Silver is the director of Cinta Latina Research, an organization that conducts research into breast cancer issues and their effects on minorities. She is concerned that Planned Parenthood targets minorities and noted that such groups have abortions at higher rates than Caucasians.
The focus on ethnic women also comes into play in Sanchez Silver’s concerns that Komen ignores the abortion-breast cancer link.
Sanchez Silver says that women deserve to know the recent research showing a link exists and that women who have induced abortions are at greater risk for contracting breast cancer than women who carry the pregnancy to term.
However, for minorities, that risk can be even greater.
"Black and Latina women have very aggressive breast cancers, often reported very late, often, unhappily, too late," Sanchez Silver told LifeNews.com. "If there are facts to be known they should be broadcasted, not swept under the rug."
Related web sites:
Cinta Latina Research – https://www.cintalatina.org
Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation – https://www.komen.org
The Coalition on Abortion Breast Cancer – https://www.abortionbreastcancer.com
