Jodi Jacobson's blog

Religious freedom? Who's zoomin' who? As I noted in a piece published last night and now confirmed by further comments from representatives of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, the far right uterine police are aiming to exclude everyone from contraceptive coverage, not just religious institutions.

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This week, on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Obama campaign senior advisor David Axelrod signaled that the White House, having finally decided to include coverage of birth control as part of primary health care benefits under health reform after studying it for well over a year, is now "willing to compromise." Many of my colleagues disagree with my take on the situation, but I am worried that in the end the White House may not hold firm.

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Komen's ostensible new strategy, to focus its prevention grants "only on mammograms," would not only exclude Planned Parenthood clinics from eligibility, but would also deny tens of thousands of low-income and uninsured women medically-indicated primary preventive breast health services and, potentially, leave many with undiagnosed breast cancers.

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ThinkProgress reports that Ari Fleischman, former press secretary for George W. Bush and prominent right-wing pundit, was secretly involved as early as last fall in planning Komen's break with Planned Parenthood.

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While a reversal of the decision is welcome, it also raises further questions. Komen denied yesterday that the de-funding had anything to do with investigations, even though their original memo said just that.  Instead they claimed that the decision was based on "new metrics" and the desire to do "direct service" grants. Now, however, they are back to the "investigations" reason. And, Planned Parenthood can "apply" for future grants but who knows what that means now?

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It seems that the Susan G. Komen Foundation did not think very carefully when making the decision to cut off breast cancer prevention grants to Planned Parenthood clinics. And Komen is becoming increasingly isolated as outrage grows.

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In the wake of the attacks on Planned Parenthood by Congressman Cliff Stearns and the Susan G. Komen Foundation, social media and tech guru Deanna Zandt created a tumblr this week at which women are telling their stories about how Planned Parenthood saved their lives through early cancer detection and other means.

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Greg Sargeant of the Washington Post reports that the Komen controversy is "about to get significantly more intense [as] nearly two dozen Senators are set to enter the fray." Twenty-two Democratic Senators have signed on to a strongly-worded letter urging Komen to reverse its decision.

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Writing in The Atlantic, Jeffrey Goldberg reports that sources with direct knowledge of the Komen decision-making process said recent policies were adopted specifically to cut funding to Planned Parenthood.

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Can you trust a breast cancer organization whose staff and board lie about medical science, including breast cancer?

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