Save the Screenings (And Women's Lives Too)

Last September, my sister marked the 6th anniversary of her breast cancer diagnosis when she was only 24. Thanks to knowledge about self-exams and a kick in the butt from our family's medical history, my sister knew she needed to see a doctor. Thanks to excellent medical insurance, she was able to catch her cancer early, and pursue the course of treatment her doctors recommended.

My sister was lucky. She was employed full-time with great insurance. Seeing a doctor for a breast exam wasn't out of her reach financially and thank goodness, neither was surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy.

But for too many women, the medical treatment my sister received is an economic impossibility. Nineteen million women had no health insurance in 2010, and in 2005, when my sister was diagnosed, the Affordable Care Act wasn’t there to allow adults under 26 to stay on their parents’ health plans. As of yesterday, the life-saving treatment my sister received is even more out of reach for low-income and uninsured women.

That's because yesterday the Planned Parenthood Federation of American announced that Susan G. Komen for the Cure has withdrawn its financial support, cutting off 19 affiliates from grant money supporting breast cancer screening. In Orange County, California, Komen money supported the local affiliate's initiative to provide breast health education to Vietnamese women. In Colorado, New Mexico, and Wyoming, $165,000 slashed from the Rocky Mountain affiliate's budget means hundreds of women won't get screened for breast cancer. And in Clallam County, Washington, losing Komen money means losing funding for the local affiliate’s mobile clinic that provided breast cancer screening for 400 under-served and isolated women last year.

There's been a lot said about the political motivation behind the Komen Foundation's decision to end their relationship with Planned Parenthood, and you can take a look at some of it here, here, and here.

But women's health and women's lives shouldn't be political footballs. All women, regardless of their economic status, should have access to a full-range of reproductive and preventative health care, from birth control to breast cancer screenings, and yes, even abortion.

So while anti-choicers might be counting this a victory, I know there are only losers with this decision. Millions of women who rely on Planned Parenthood have lost a source of funding for their breast health, and millions of family members have lost the peace of mind that comes with knowing your loved ones have access to the health care they need to be around for a long, long, time.