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Opinions/Editorials Title: How the Komen Decision Had Race and Class Written All Over It snip The political game over abortion, however, is really not much more than a subtext of the bigger clashes over race and class. What was missed during this entire week of debate is that the Komen flap had all kinds of race and class written all over it. But, no one really wanted to step into that. Gatekeepers of partisan talking points struggled with every last breath on talk shows to stay away from either conversation, pretty much using abortion as the perfect cover. Untouched was the fact that this was pretty much a decision made by pink-ribbon wearing affluent White women comfortably detached from the reality of what Planned Parenthood is doing and who benefits from those services. Amazingly, we got consumed by a discussion on funding for abortions when, in reality, Planned Parenthood only focuses 3% of its services on abortion. While many pro-life conservatives will argue that even one abortion is too many, the math pretty much makes it all look a bit ridiculous and over the top. See the graph attached to this. I’m not taking any side on the abortion debate. I’m just saying, politically, is not what I would want my elected officials worried about at the moment. A deeper look at the numbers also shows that over three quarters of women using Planned Parenthood are at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty level. Over a quarter of Planned Parenthood patients are Latinas and 15 percent are Black women; 40% of Latinas and nearly 20% of African American women are uninsured and – oh yeah – nearly 15% of White women are uninsured. Which means that Planned Parenthood health centers are quite possibly the closest thing to primary health care for millions of poor women with inadequate access to affordable, reliable and user-friendly health care. The problem here is that we’re getting twisted into a knot about abortion when the issue is about whether or not our rather large underserved and impoverished population – which is nearly 20% of Americans – is able to access quality care and preemptive screenings for a vast range of major health disparities. Obviously, that’s still not the case when Black women, for example, are still more likely to die from breast and cervical cancer than White women. Post Comment Private Reply Ignore Thread Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 1. #1. To: A K A Stone, Fred Mertz, Godwinson, go65, war, no gnu taxes, Skip Intro, ferret mike, jwpegler, brian s, mininggold, mcgowanjm (#0) So, we had yet another week in which abortion dominated a discussion about desperately needed scarce funding and resources for low-income women and people of color. That’s what this is really all about. Talking up abortion is – real talk – a convenient way to avoid that very uncomfortable conversation and a collective unwillingness to address some very serious health disparities in the United States. "Obsess about embryos, but ignore the needs of real children", and women
Replies to Comment # 1. And the LAST thing these yoyo's wanted to do was bring up poor women's health needs....8D "Vitter is perhaps best known for running as a "family values" conservative who was later caught hiring prostitutes." "It's almost like a disease is being used to make a profit." www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QPZfcYTUaA Only 10% of breast cancer is genetic...;} The LASt thing these morons wanted was to focus on the 'profit center of Komen....;}
#8. To: lucysmom (#1) And ALL across America this is happening: " Gauvin, a supporter in the past of both Planned Parenthood and Komen, said that now, if a friend asked for sponsorship in a Race for the Cure event, she would offer to give money instead to the American Cancer Society. Also switching allegiance was Suzanne Strempek Shea, a novelist and college writing teacher in Northampton, Mass. "If someone asks me to sponsor them," she said, "I'm going to say, `I wish you well, but I'm going to give the amount I'd have given you to Rays of Hope," another breast cancer support group. The issue was particularly painful to Shea, 51. She is a breast cancer survivor who discovered early warning signs at a Planned Parenthood breast screening (the group does screenings and refers some patients for mammograms)." You won't hear about abortion or breast (cancer;} for awhile now. Watch. And heads are rolling this Sunday. Count on it. There were 100's of millions at stake.
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