Last week, the Susan G. Komen Foundation really stepped in it when they refused to renew their grants to Planned Parenthood. The backlash was immediate and deep, and the non-apology explanation from Komen was weak, to put it nicely. But what’s most infuriating is the fact that their crass, political decision has the potential to hurt millions of women, particularly women of color.
This issue is personal to me, and not just because I’ve given donations to Komen for years. Someone close to me is a breast cancer survivor. She has excellent health care coverage, and caught it early during a routine mammogram. She got necessary treatment, post-surgery drugs, and, knock on wood, has been in remission for years. I am not so naïve to think that her situation is the norm in this country. That first fact about her having excellent health care coverage is, for too many women, way out of reach. There are women who cannot afford to see a doctor when they are extremely sick, let alone for preventative care like a mammogram.
The above excerpt was originally published in The Grio.
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