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Here comes the liberal blacklist

“Liberal blacklist” — that’s John Podhoretz’s term for what’s happening to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the wake of its decision to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood. Why? Washington Post health reporter Sarah Kliff tweets that the Yale School of Public Health is considering withdrawing its invitation to Komen founder Nancy Brinker to give […]

“Liberal blacklist” — that’s John Podhoretz’s term for what’s happening to the Susan G. Komen Foundation in the wake of its decision to withdraw funding from Planned Parenthood. Why? Washington Post health reporter Sarah Kliff tweets that the Yale School of Public Health is considering withdrawing its invitation to Komen founder Nancy Brinker to give its commencement address. Nothing this woman has done for women’s health in the 30 years she’s run the breast cancer charity matters anymore to these people; it’s all about abortion to them.

Similarly with the American Association of University Women, which, according to the WaPo:

The Washington-based American Association of University Women said it would no longer list Komen among the community service opportunities available to the 600 college women who attend the AAUW’s annual leadership conference in June. The headquarters office will no longer sponsor Washington teams in the Komen-sponsored Race for the Cure and expects its branches to follow suit, said Lisa Maatz, AAUW’s director of public policy and government relations.

You get that, right? It is not “community service” to AAUW to volunteer for Komen and help raise money to fight breast cancer.

The liberal blacklist. Of course I support anybody’s right to withhold money or approval from any organization for any reason. But let’s just be clear what’s going on here. Komen broke ranks, and for the cultural left, that cannot be understood, forgiven, or overlooked; Komen must be ruined. Nothing Komen or Nancy Brinker has ever done for women in 30 years matters to these people. This is war.

UPDATE: You know, the more I think about it, the more I realize this is a clarifying moment. Think of it! Three decades of service to women fighting breast cancer, and having raised and distributed hundreds of millions of dollars nearly $2 billion towards that goal, means absolutely nothing to these people now trying to destroy Komen. They could have denounced Komen’s decision, but in light of all Komen has done, and still does for women, turned their ire on the Republicans, the Religious Right, and so forth. But no, Komen broke ranks, and it must be dealt with harshly. And the sympathetic mainstream media is helping them do the job. All this reminds one of exactly what we’re dealing with here: what John Paul II called the culture of death. It is helpful to be reminded which side you’re on.

I can’t get onto Komen’s main site now — perhaps its server is jammed — but I found its local Baton Rouge site, and made a $100 donation just now. Never done that before. Like I said, a clarifying moment. [UPDATE: I’ve withdrawn the gift in light of Komen’s reversal.]

UPDATE.2: Rachael Larrimore at Slate:

Those who are loudly denouncing Komen are getting plenty of attention today. But the Komen foundation would not have acted as it did if it had not been hearing similar complaints from pro-lifers for years. It could not have been a decision that it made lightly. I’m grateful that it listened to the concerns of men and women who told them they would not donate to Komen as long as it had a relationship with the nation’s largest abortion provider.

Because Planned Parenthood can gin up outrage from its supporters at the drop of a hat, and that it will likely come out ahead with this whole affair. It would be nice, however, if once in a while the organization could step back and ask itself why an organization like Komen would sever its ties. There are consequences, or should be, for an organization that continues  to perform more and more abortions—while treating fewer prenatal patients and making fewer adoption referrals—while the nationwide trend has been largely downward since 1990. There should be consequences for an organization whose employees are caught on tape giving inaccurate medical advice or who fail to report anything to authorities when 13- and 14-year-olds show up seeking abortions after being impregnated by men in their 30s and 40s.  About as many Americans are pro-life as are pro-choice, and we will continue to target groups that give their money to Planned Parenthood.

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