I know, I know. I hate article titles that begin “Shocker:” too, but after reading the idiotic Townhall.com piece by idiotic news editor Katie Pavlich, “Shocker: Susan G. Komen Pulled PP Funding Because They Don’t Perform Mammograms,” I simply couldn’t resist. Now, Townhall has never been known for its intellectual rigor, but even in that notoriously obtuse shed, Pavlich isn’t the sharpest tool. Even so, she manages to plumb new depths of ignorant asshattery in this ponderously dull-witted piece. Now that Komen has apparently reversed course on Planned Parenthood, Townhall has “updated” Pavlich’s article with a cut-and-paste statement from Komen’s website, rendering the original article following the update as an object lesson in rhetorical face plants.
While the Komen organization was still flailing publicly for a credible rationale for defunding Planned Parenthood, Pavlich latched on to another ephemeral talking point. The new story was that Komen didn’t suspend pass-through funding to Planned Parenthood for political (anti-choice) reasons, but rather because Planned Parenthood doesn’t actually provide mammograms in their facilities. The article is annoying on several levels, but before I attend to Pavlich’s blindly ideological nonsense, I must regrettably point out a blindingly obvious fact: few other doctors and clinics provide in-house mammograms either.
My wife gets an annual checkup with our family doctor, who performs a manual breast exam and instructs (and chides) my wife on the topic of self-exams, but—shocker!—she doesn’t actually have a half-million dollar full-field digital mammography system purring away next to the tongue depressors and rubber gloves. Rather, she provides a referral to a nearby radiology lab where the mammogram is actually performed. Any woman who has ever been to a doctor knows this, but apparently not Katie Pavlich.
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Here’s another slightly less blindingly obvious bit of news for those readers who might be so shockingly ignorant about the ins and outs of routine breast exams: Radiology labs do not generally accept “self-referrals.” In other words, one usually cannot go to a radiology lab and receive a mammogram without a referral. No tickee, no shirtee. On the other hand, if your family doctor or other practitioner, say, a Planned Parenthood physician, provides you with a referral, you can then be seen and receive your mammogram.
More important, even if mammograms were common as muck and free with a 44 oz. Big Gulp, in-office breast exams by a qualified health professional are at least as important as mammography. As director of breast surgery at New York University, Dr. Freya Schnabel explains, “…superficial and central lesions are frequently missed on mammography, and young women with dense breasts represent a specific population where there is a substantial false negative rate for mammography, making clinical exam particularly important.”
Furthermore, breast self-examination, which is explained and demonstrated to thousands upon thousands of women at Planned Parenthood facilities, is unquestionably one of the most effective early detection methods. In the wake of a controversial 2011 study, doctors—not right wing bloggers, mind you, but actual doctors—are cautiously reevaluating the efficacy of annual mammograms. In short, Komen’s insistence on the primacy of mammography didn’t seem to pass the smell test.
The real reasons behind Susan G. Komen’s change of policy are a matter of some controversy and speculation, to say the least. Komen had originally announced that Planned Parenthood didn’t make the grade due to the McCarthyesque investigation underway in Congress. An AP story revealed that an internal source at Komen had reason to believe that Komen vice president for public policy Karen Handel, a vocal critic of Planned Parenthood, was behind the decision. In another shockingly stupid TownHall article, Katie Pavlich offered the theory that Komen was uneasy about a ludicrous hoax allegation that Planned Parenthood was actively promoting sex trafficking. The no-mammograms-no-funds grant criterion angle simply muddled what was unquestionably the most badly botched public relations effort since NetFlix announced Quikster.
The right wing coup at Komen, evidently orchestrated by none other than former Bush operative Ari Fleischer, had all the earmarks of a typical Republican black op. As one flimsy rationale after another was overrun by amazingly agile “Occupy Komen” forces, the entire superstructure of lies and political intrigue was exposed piece by piece.
While the controversy raged, the liberal blogosphere fulminated in righteous indignation at the apparent anti-choice politics which led to the decision, while the right wing blogosphere exploded in ecstasy at same. Katie Pavlich’s whooping, fist-pumping support of Komen’s decision to stop supporting Planned Parenthood’s life-saving work doesn’t jibe well with her simultaneous protestations that the decision wasn’t politically motivated. To completely shatter any pretense of higher brain function, she offers the following sober (well, maybe a couple of beers) analysis:
This is a simple situation. Susan G. Komen is a breast cancer organziation (sic) and therefore they give money to other organizations that help women with breast cancer screanings (sic), cures, etc. Planned Parenthood doesn’t offer mammograms or any type of breast cancer treatment, so it is a waste of money for Komen to be giving Planned Parenthood funding. In fact, you can argue that the continuation of Komen funding for Planned Parenthood would actually prevent women from receiving mammograms in clinics needing that funding for real breast cancer prevention services. Regardless, pro-abortion Leftists are angry with the breast cancer organization for not supporting a woman’s “right to choose,” yet they don’t respect Komen’s, a private organziation (sic), decision to choose where to best allocate their resources.
Hmm. So help me out, Katie. Why has Susan G. Komen Race For The Cure now reversed course on this perfectly sound and defensible policy? Why are they indulging angry leftists and misallocating resources? Why do they want to continue wasting money on organizations like Planned Parenthood that don’t do real cancer prevention? Why do they want to prevent women from receiving mammograms? Why, Katie, why?
No doubt this controversial onion will continue to be peeled, and more disturbing details will be revealed about the politics surrounding Komen’s clumsy maneuver. Thankfully, Susan G. Komen and Planned Parenthood have kissed and made up for now, and a side benefit of the controversy is that both organizations have received massive infusions of politically motivated donations. With luck, Komen will soon escape the circus atmosphere of modern American politics and return to focusing fully on women’s health. Unfortunately, Planned Parenthood will probably never enjoy that luxury.
The flash controversy we’ve just witnessed is just another tiresome episode in the long term hyper-politicization of women’s health issues. Katie Pavlich is just another tiresome shill for anti-choice radicals. And I suppose I’m just another tiresome liberal who thinks that the health of the women I love, the health of women I’ve never met, and even the health of ignorant harpies like Katie Pavlich, are all more important than all the political battles ever waged.
If we as a people can’t even agree on that, everything else we’re arguing about is just a goddamn waste of breath.
Image source: Flickr/Planned Parenthood
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D. L. MacKenzie is an amateur historian, economist, logician, political junkie, and inveterate smartass who has undergone on a decades-long metamorphosis from Republican caterpillar to stark raving liberal, and now seeks to atone for having squandered his first Presidential vote on Ronald Reagan. He begs your forgiveness, and in restitution, skewers as much right-wing rumor, innuendo, fallacious reasoning, false facts, fuzzy math, and outright lies as time will allow. When he’s not banging on a computer, D. L. hikes, cavorts, and listens to obscure music with his lovely wife.
