Boards
If you haven’t been following recent politics, there has been a ton of controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood because they provide abortions as part of the comprehensive reproductive health services they offer to women around the country and the world. Politicians who want to take away women’s rights see Planned Parenthood as an easy target.
Back in February, the Susan G. Komen foundation followed those nasty politician’s lead when they pulled funding from Planned Parenthood. And um, people noticed. Pulling funding from Planned Parenthood not only reduces their ability to provide abortions to women who need and want them, but it also reduces their ability to perform life-saving breast cancer screenings to low-income women. Way to go, Komen. And the super sucky thing is that Komen was a huge source of funding, so the funding they cut could lead to a lot of women’s lives being lost.
If Komen was truly concerned about prevention and awareness, if they were real superheroes, why give into all of the political drama and cut funding? And Marvel Comics, what gives? There are plenty of other breast cancer advocates out there like Avon and Estee Lauder. Why team up with one that’s anti-abortion? You’re never gonna get Wonder Woman to ditch DC and come over to Marvel this way!
Not only has Komen played a pivotal role in further stigmatizing the women who choose to have an abortion, they’ve made it even harder for women to get breast exams. Many women don’t have health insurance and Planned Parenthood is a great, inexpensive alternative. Komen is willing to put a halt on cancer prevention because they can’t accept that women want control over their own bodies and lives? They’re willing to (in a certain sense) sacrifice the lives of women by denying them preventative health care? After all, the key to treating cancer effectively is detecting it early. No breast exams means no early detection.
Either you want women to have a cure for cancer or you want women to be able to have abortions? That’s not what we meant by the right to choose. Any reasonable person would want women to have both.
Personally, I’d like to support a cure (and awesome comics), but I hate having this conflict of interest where I feel like If I try to fight breast cancer, I’ve got to be anti-choice, too. It’s so wrong, and definitely not something a super hero would stand for.
What do you think about this? Do you support Planned Parenthood? Let us know in the comments!
