October is "Breast Cancer Awareness Month," and thanks to a huge promotional campaign by the Susan Komen Foundation, pink is showing up on everything from women's lapel pins to socks on football teams. But look beyond the "pink treat"!

According to Caroline May, political reporter at The Daily Caller, some of the money that Komen raises actually goes to Planned Parenthood, the world's largest abortion provider. In FY 2009, Komen affiliates contributed about $730,000* to programs sponsored by Planned Parenthood.

Perhaps the reason for Komen's support of Planned Parenthood is the fact that Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, is a supporter of PP, acting as an advisory board member of Planned Parenthood's North Texas affiliate.

A Komen spokesman, John Hammarley, told TDC that about 20 of Komen's 122 affiliates are responsible for the money that goes to Planned Parenthood and that those funds are used only for breast cancer treatment, education, or screening programs that happen to be affiliated with the abortion group. While oversight may be intended by Komen, it's a financial fact of life that any organization who gets money for Project A can divert other funds in its budget to Project B. So every dime Komen gives to PP allows a different dime to be freed for other services or overhead.

Additionally, some studies have shown that abortions and certain oral contraceptives can cause breast cancer, though Komen dismisses those studies and deny any such link. If you contribute to the Komen Foundation, you may want to re-think that donation, in light of the "trick" they play with some of those donations.

There are other breast cancer organizations who do not fund abortions that pro-lifers may wish to consider instead, such as: The National Breast Cancer Foundation, a national organization that funds mammograms or Breast Cancer Prevention Institute, which offers information on avoidable risks including abortion. Additionally, neither of these organizations advocates for embryonic stem cell research, making them much more desirable for pro-life donors who wish to help defeat breast cancer.

Seven Days and Counting!

We are in the home stretch — less than a week until the only poll that really counts, the one taken on Election Day. It should be a very exciting day for Republicans, and especially the pro-life Republicans. We have a record number of pro-life advocates running for Congress; you can see the list on our website: www.RNCLife.org so you will know who to root for Tuesday night. Many of those races are real cliff-hangers — separated by only a point or two. Those are races we particularly wanted to help, as we detailed in recent E-Notes. We will be doing a wrap-up after the election to show you how our endorsed candidates came out in the election. Be sure to vote and encourage all like-minded citizens to do the same thing — every vote is needed to put these pro-life Republicans in Washington, D.C.

Pro-lifers "Hosed Down" on Texas Sidewalk

Despite their constitutional right of assembly and speech, pro-life protestors in Lubbock, TX were threatened with arrest for "blocking a public sidewalk" as they picketed in front of the Planned Parenthood CEO's home. PP has recently opened an abortion facility in Lubbock, and concerned citizens had been doing sidewalk counseling in front of the clinic. After deciding to picket the CEO's home, they were greeted by a high-pressure water blast from one neighbor and another called the police who threatened to arrest the protestors if they did not leave. The group plans to meet with the city's attorney to clarify their rights.

Farewell to a Pro-Life Pioneer

The Pro-life movement has lost one of its stalwart warriors, Dr. Mildred Jefferson, who died peacefully last Saturday morning at age 84. Dr. Jefferson was a founder of the National Right to Life Committee and served as its president for three terms. At the time of her death, she served on the Board of Directors for more than 30 pro-life organizations, and in August, had been named the adult supervisor of the newly formed Massachusetts Assembly of Teenage Republicans and the New England Federation of TARS. Earlier in her life, she ran unsuccessfully for the Massachusetts Republican nomination for United States senator.

Born in Pittsburg, Texas, Dr. Jefferson was the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School in 1951 and the first woman to become a member of the Boston Surgical Society, the first female surgical intern at Boston City Hospital, and the first woman recipient of the prestigious Lantern Award for Patriotism from the Massachusetts State Council of the Knights of Columbus.

Pro-lifers are grateful for her faithful leadership and will sorely miss this courageous lady.