Last month, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was involved in a very controversial situation involving their grants to Planned Parenthood. Komen, as the largest organization in the country dedicated to breast cancer research, treatment, and prevention, is in the public eye and its decisions affect many people across the country. Komen gives millions of dollars in grant money to different health organizations each year. In the grant bylaws, it states that Komen cannot give money under any type of federal investigation. Recently Planned Parenthood fell into that category, as it was under federal investigation related to federal money going to Planned Parenthood, specifically to fund abortions. It is well known that abortion is a very controversial topic. Therefore, this caused much attention.
Shortly after announcing that Komen would no longer fund Planned Parenthood, there was a mix of reactions. Planned Parenthood and its supporters were very vocal about their opinions. Meanwhile, those who do not support Planned Parenthood or abortion, including many Catholic organizations, showed their support by donating to Komen directly.
One day later, Komen announced that it is revised its bylaws, therefore, reversing the decision.
As you can see, this caused much attention. Many angry and many happy, Komen lost many of its supporters. As an intern for Susan G. Komen in the Greater Fort Worth Affiliate, I was able to see first hand how this affected the Komen affiliates.
In addition to having to return many donations that Komen received after the first decision, the affiliates were not as informed about the situation. Headquarters made these decisions behind closed doors, not giving much advance warning to its affiliates.
In this case, the ethical system of Utilitarianism should be applied- making the best decision for the greatest amount of people. A major issue with this situation is that many who were voicing their opinions were not informed as to why Komen was making the decisions it made. However, if supporting Planned Parenthood can provide more women with the opportunity to receive breast cancer health, and no money going toward abortion, then that is probably the best decision.
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