The Komen-Planned Parenthood Controversy: Why It Spiraled Out Of Control

Why A PR Blunder Turned Into A 72-Hour National Crisis

While the paperwork involved proved to be a legislative nightmare, the public backlash was equally intense. Thus, the question remains: is there a hidden dimension to this controversy that made it burn so brightly within the minds of Americans? As usual, that dimension lies in the details.

Recently, the Wall Street Journal published a piece that presents itself as a stark contrast to the majority of explanations regarding the mini-crisis. Generally speaking, the conservative newspaper paints Planned Parenthood as some sort of behemoth squid with manipulative tentacles that puppeteer all major media outlets. And considering the incredible speed and force of the Planned Parenthood’s response, this may be an accurate depiction of Planned Parenthood’s PR machine.

Apart from its myriad of media connections, Planned Parenthood is also at the helm of hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer money and, legally speaking, is definitely some sort of strange quasi-governmental animal (if not a behemoth squid).

Within the American system, quasi-governmental entities strive to remain under the radar, but Planned Parenthood is vocal, political, and litigious. The Planned Parenthood Federation of America, or PPFA, is the result of the Nixon-era Title X Family Planning Program, which by its very existence weaves the federal government with abortion procedures. Although the government’s connection to abortion procedures is not a financial one, there is a bureaucratic connection and that, for better or worse, establishes a link in the minds of many Americans.

This entanglement is a rather unfortunate one given Planned Parenthood’s other admirable services: family planning education, contraception distribution, STD and pregnancy testing, and cancer screenings. Each are extremely valuable in their own right. Nevertheless, conservative groups have largely eclipsed the overall mission of Planned Parenthood by negatively associating the group with abortion. And as the vitriolic responses have demonstrated, those negative associations have been a success.

Much like Planned Parenthood, the Komen Foundation also finds itself entwined in the political machine. It is supposed to nonpartisan, but its governing body is highly active within the Republican Party. In fact, CEO Nancy Brinker was so close to George W. Bush that he appointed her to be the ambassador to Hungary and then to the post of U.S. Chief of Protocol.

Moreover, while the Komen Foundation funds breast cancer research in general terms, the group withholds funds from breast cancer stem cell research for political reasons. This fact is beyond troubling considering the vast sums of money the organization sits on, not to mention the miraculous leaps being made in the field of stem cell research. And as Komen redirects money away from the most promising areas of breast cancer research, this all makes Obama’s honoring of Brinker with the Presidential Medal of Freedom nothing more than a bad joke.

Ultimately, this particular controversy spiraled out of control because both groups are essentially political despite their shared goal of serving public health at large. As tends to happen, the abortion issue was ripe for some sort of public blowout, even if it hinged on a mere 5% budget allocation. For proponents of Planned Parenthood, outcries grew out of fear that partisanship would infect nonpartisan organizations that preserve what is left of common moral ground.