I think it is important not to lose sight of the fact that Komen's antiabortion institutional imperative is not just about Planned Parenthood. Not only do Komen's staff and board members spread scientific misinformation about the bogus "link" between abortion and breast cancer, but Komen has also cut off millions of dollars to universities doing stem cell research.

Jodi Jacobson at the prochoice RH Reality Check reported that not only did Komen hire antiabortion pol Karen Handel, but elected Jane Abraham, the General Chairman of the anti-choice Susan B. Anthony List (SBA) to the board.

Jacobson writes that SBA "has constantly spread false and misleading information about federal government funding of abortion, about health reform, and about the the public health and medical evidence surrounding safe abortion care."

Moreover, Abraham is also closely affiliated with The Nurturing Network, a global network of crisis pregnancy centers started by Mary Cunningham Agee, a former corporate business executive and anti-choice crusader affiliated with the Coalition for Life. The Nurturing Network and other crisis pregnancy organizations exist to mislead women and dissuade them from making decisions that are best for themselves, and are based on sound scientific and medical advice. They are also profoundly patronizing in their approach, which is based on knowing better than women themselves what those women "should want" and what is "best for them." Groups like Nurturing Network are the nucleus of lies about abortion and breast cancer. For example, a December 2004 Congressional report based on an investigation led by Congressman Henry Waxman (D-CA) found that, among other things, such centers: "...provided false and misleading information about a link between abortion and breast cancer. There is a medical consensus that induced abortion does not cause an increased risk of breast cancer. Despite this consensus, eight centers told the caller that having an abortion would in fact increase her risk. One center said that “all abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer in later years.” Another claimed that research shows a “far greater risk” of breast cancer after an abortion, telling the caller that an abortion would “affect the milk developing in her breasts” and that the risk of breast cancer increased by as much as 80% following an abortion." Never mind that the "abortion-breast cancer link" has been disproved many times over by groups like, uh, the National Cancer Institute, the Centers for Disease Control, the World Health Organization and the Institutes of Medicine. The lies live on because groups like SBA keep them going. For example, Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of the Susan B. Anthony List, is closely affiliated with and has appeared at events hosted by a group called the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer. So it is fair to ask: Just what are the scientific and medical standards to which the Susan G. Komen Foundation adheres, if any? Why would a breast cancer organization hire staff and elect board members that misrepresent science and facts? Can you trust them to give you sound information about breast cancer? And can you trust them with investing your money in the best possible efforts to end breast cancer?

Meanwhile the anti-abortion news outfit, LifeNews is pleased to report that Komen has also, apparently in response to pressure from antiabortion groups, quietly cut off millions of dollars going to support stem cell research at major universities.

As LifeNews reported last July, Karen Malec of the Coalition on Abortion/Breast Cancer spent time examining Komen’s 990 Forms for the IRS for 2010 and she found that Komen has active relationships with at least five research groups or educational facilities that engage in embryonic stem cell research... The return showed donations from Komen totaling $3.75 million to Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, $4.5 million to the University of Kansas Medical Center, $1 million to the U.S. National Cancer Institute, $1 million to the Society for Women’s Health Research, and $600,000 to Yale University. All of them have embryonic stem cell research programs. On November 30, 2011, Komen quietly added a new statement to its web site stating that it does not support embryonic stem cell research but supports the kinds that do not involve the destruction of human life.

Whether or not Komen restores a relationship with PPFA and honestly opens the door to future funding of its cancer screening program for low income women, no one should come away from this episode without understanding that the Susan G. Komen Foundation is an antiabortion agency wrapped in a mainstream philanthropy, that is playing a highly politicized role in the manipulation of science for ideological ends. While there is much more that can be said (and has been) about Komen's approach to research and cancer prevention and cures, that this much has come out so quickly about its antiabortion agenda suggests to me that there is much more to be found.