Statement from Susan G. Komen for the Cure
February 1, 2012

We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized. It is necessary to set the record straight.

Starting in 2010, Komen began an initiative to help us do a better job of measuring the impact of community grants. This is important because we invest significant dollars in our local community programs—$93 million in 2011, which provided for 700,000 breast health screenings and diagnostic procedures.

Following this review, we made the decision to implement stronger performance criteria for our grantees to minimize duplication and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women. To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.

Some might argue that our standards are too exacting, but over the past three decades people have given us more than just their money. They have given us their trust and we take that responsibility very seriously.

We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Throughout our 30 year history, our priority has always been and will continue to be the women we serve. As we move forward, we are working to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for the women who need our support most in the fight against breast cancer.

Planned Parenthood is trying to bully Komen into giving them those grants again. But they’ve brought this on themselves, with all their lies about doing mammograms and all the other dishonesty and deception that marks how they do business.

Posted in Planned Parenthood | 4 comments »

Pro-life groups across the country—including the Pro-Life Action League are applauding Komen for this decision.

Komen had been making large grants to Planned Parenthood since 2005—over $625,000 in 2010, for example—which were supposed to be earmarked for breast cancer screening and education.

Pro-lifers objected to these grants not only because any support for Planned Parenthood ultimately means contributing to their abortion business, but because of the mounting evidence that abortion actually increases a woman’s risk of breast cancer.[Continue reading ... ]

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Planned Parenthood of Illinois CEO Carole Brite at a rally in downtown Chicago in February 2011 [Photo by Sam Scheidler]

In a Daily Herald article on this past weekend’s Speakout Illinois Conference, Planned Parenthood’s Carole Brite claims the organization “adheres to the highest standards of medical care for all of our reproductive health care services.”

To that, I respond, “Prove it.”

Unfortunately, there’s no way to verify Brite’s claim. We’ll have to take Brite’s word for it, because Planned Parenthood’s Illinois abortion clinics are not subject to state inspection.

In fact, only 13 of the state’s 22 surgical abortion facilities are subject to inspection—the 9 classified as “pregnancy termination specialty centers” (PTSCs) that do abortions up to 18 weeks, and the 4 classified as “ambulatory surgical treatment centers” (ASTCs) that do abortions up to 24 weeks.[Continue reading ... ]

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Panelists at the Illinois ACLU’s “War on Contraception” seminar Jan. 30 (from left): Damilla Taylor, Gaylon Alcaraz, Leah Bartelt and Lorie Chaiten [Photo by Paige Scarlett]

Last night I joined a group of pro-life activists to “crash” the Illinois ACLU’s meeting in Chicago Heights, Illinois, touting its sensationalist “War on Contraception” agenda. Pro-lifers made up for at least seven of the 20 people in attendance.

The seminar was the second of three being held in three Chicago suburbs at health clubs, libraries, or other intentionally innocuous locations as part of the ACLU’s “Defending the Targets of Intolerance” series to stand up for supposedly “oppressed” groups including gays, lesbians, and women.[Continue reading ... ]

Posted in Contraception, Health Care, Law and Politics | 0 comments »

Josh Brahm talks to teens about pro-life apologetics [Photo by Sam Scheidler]

“Phenomenal!” “Absolutely fantastic!” “I loved it!”

These are just some of the comments that sum up the reaction of the more than 140 teens and adults who attended TeenSpeak 2012, the youth program of SpeakOut Illinois, held on January 28 at the Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook, Illinois. That’s the largest crowd we’ve ever had at a TeenSpeak conference!

The day began with an engaging and enthusiastic talk entitled “Making Abortion Unthinkable: The Art of Pro-Life Persuasion,” by Right to Life of Central California’s Josh Brahm. Drawing from his experience as one of few pro-life speakers who has formally debated leaders from “pro-choice” organizations like Planned Parenthood and NARAL, Josh emphasized the need to “focus like a laser beam” on the humanity of the unborn child when talking with someone who sees nothing wrong with abortion.

The audience loved Josh’s talk. High school student Sadie Huddleston remarked, “It was so informative! This talk truly brought out the issue of abortion and clearly informed me of ways to approach and how to answer pro-choicers.” [Continue reading ... ]

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Former abortion worker Abby Johnson [Photo by Eric Scheidler]

The 21st annual SpeakOut Illinois Conference drew a record crowd of over 400 people this year, at least 100 more than attended last year!

The Doubletree Hotel in Oak Brook was the site of the January 28 conference with over 36 organizations participating as sponsors. Pro-Life Action League executive director Ann Scheidler and former League staffer Tommie Romano served as co-chairmen of the conference planning committee and oversaw a dedicated team that helped made the event a wonderful success.

The day began with a welcome and introductions of politicians attending by Peter Breen, executive director of the Thomas More Society Pro-Life Law Center, followed by an opening prayer offered by Rev. Calvin Lindstrom from the Church of Christian Liberty, calling on God to help the cause of life.

Abby Johnson Gives an Insider’s View on Planned Parenthood

The keynote speaker, former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson, gave a riveting testimony about how her heart changed from naively believing Planned Parenthood was genuinely “in it for women” to realizing it is a money-driven business of pushing the lucrative “service” of abortion.[Continue reading ... ]

Posted in Pro-Life Events | 3 comments »

Before last year’s inspection sweep of Illinois’ nine pregnancy termination special centers (PTSCs), the abortuary hadn’t been inspected in 15 years. State investigators found serious problems there, including shoddy record keeping.

The Journal Star reports that all the violations were corrected by October, at a cost of nearly $10,000.

But what remains to be seen—and is not discussed in today’s story—is whether the state will continue to monitor conditions at the PTSCs, or simply revert to the status quo of decades past when inspections were not done.

Posted in Law and Politics, Our Opposition | 0 comments »

In response to inquiries from Johnson, Pro-Life Action League Executive Director Eric Scheidler provided numerous documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests regarding abortion clinic inspections. He was also quoted in the article:

Anti-abortion activist Eric Scheidler, executive director of the Chicago-based Pro-Life Action League, said Illinois is “one of the most pro-abortion states in the nation” and he believes it gave the clinics “a pass.” The state has shown “a systematic unwillingness to step away from the ideology and look at these facilities objectively,” he said, calling for more stringent inspections.

[Continue reading ... ]

Posted in Law and Politics, Our Opposition | 2 comments »

March for Life 2012 outside the US Supreme Court building [Photo by John Jansen]

I’ve attended the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. a good number of times, but this year’s was by far the most upbeat, energetic and encouraging march I’ve been to, and the Pro-Life Action League was thrilled to be a part of it.

The crowd was enormous and excited about the coming year, as well they should be. 2011 was a banner year for the pro-life movement, and the momentum only keeps going our way.

As the march wound through the streets of the nation’s capital one could see groups from all religious traditions, all ages and races, school groups, church groups, colleges with huge banners—it was quite a show.

Crusaders for Life Steal the Show

But there was one thing that I don’t think anyone missed—the Crusaders for Life pro-life youth group from our own St. John Cantius church here in Chicago. The giant group came equipped with chants, huge yellow “LIFE” balloons, and portable platforms where they could carry some of their cohorts above the crowd to lead chants.[Continue reading ... ]

Posted in Abortion, Pro-Life Activism, The Culture War | 0 comments »

Obama dare not hint—by professing a desire to reduce abortion itself—that there’s anything whatsoever wrong with abortion. What’s bad, what we want to reduce, is “the need for” abortion.

Some will say I’m reading too much into these words, that what Obama means to say—what they may even think he is saying—is that he wants to reduce abortion. But he never does say that. Look at his statements on abortion—always careful to add those three little words.

Obama is happy to mislead people on this score, to appear to share a goal most Americans would embrace: to bring the number of abortions down from the staggering current rate of over 1 million a year.

But hidden in those the little words is a clear message to the abortion industry: “I got your back.” They can rest assured he will fight any effort to actually bring down the number of abortions, keepig the focus on that nebulous “need” for it. And he’s proven that commitment again and again over the past 3 years.

Well, here at the 39th Annual March for Life, we’ve got three little words of our own—three little words that inspire our action today and carry us to victory on November 6: “Stop abortion NOW!”

Posted in Abortion, Law and Politics, Pro-Life Events | 0 comments »