Dr. Charmaine Yoest discusses the Komen Foundation-Planned Parenthood Controversy on CBS Evening News Tonight
Tune in tonight at 6:30 p.m. ET (or check your local listings) to watch Dr. Charmaine Yoest discuss the current controversy over Komen Foundation funding that has been going to Planned Parenthood. Dr. Yoest discusses her concerns in a story by,
CBS reporter Nancy Cordes. Click here to read more from AUL on the matter.
“Planned Parenthood does not actually provide front-line breast health services: Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms – a service that saved my
life,” said AUL’s Dr. Charmaine Yoest.
WASHINGTON, D.C. (02-03-12) – Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest said that it was “unfortunate that the Komen Foundation had come under vicious attack from Planned Parenthood as part of a media-savvy campaign.”
Dr. Yoest made the following statement:
“As a breast cancer survivor, I am troubled that the Komen Foundation has come under such heavy fire for their recent decision to tighten and focus their funding guidelines. This week we have all been witness to highly partisan attacks from pro-abortion advocates and an ugly and disgraceful shakedown that highlights Planned Parenthood’s willingness to pursue a scorched-earth strategy to force compliance with their pro-abortion agenda
“The American public has learned this week that Planned Parenthood does not actually provide front-line breast health services: Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms – a service that saved my life. Komen’s long-standing partnership with the nation’s largest abortion provider has allowed Planned Parenthood to whitewash the central fact that their core mission involves providing abortion.
“The on-going Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood – from the same Committee investigating Solyndra – raises substantive legal questions and areas of ethical and moral concern. As AUL detailed in our ‘Case for Investigating Planned Parenthood,’ attention to the abortion giant’s business practices is long overdue.
“The Committee is concerned with wise stewardship of public taxpayer monies, just as the Komen Foundation must be concerned with their investment of donor dollars. It is unfortunate that donors to the Susan G. Komen Foundation are now confused about their association with the nation’s largest abortion provider.”
The Hill quotes Dr. Charmaine Yoest of AUL:
But its decision to cut off Planned Parenthood has undeniable political implications — for both sides of the abortion debate. Abortion-rights opponents cheered Komen’s move, chalking up another victory in their push to de-fund Planned Parenthood.
“Breast health is not Planned Parenthood’s core competency,” said Charmaine Yoest, president and chief executive of Americans United for Life. “They specialize in abortions.”
Yoest said it’s too early to tell whether the Komen announcement will embolden conservatives to pressure other organizations to break with Planned Parenthood. But the move will definitely work to Komen’s benefit, she said.
“From a business perspective for them, it was wise to get out of that,” she said.
“As a breast cancer survivor,” said Yoest, “I applaud the decision of the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the nation’s largest abortion provider.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (01-31-12) – Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest commended the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation for ending its grants to the nation’s largest abortion provider, Planned Parenthood, calling it “a decision to invest its donor-supported resources in efforts designed to truly advance women’s health with life-saving research.”
Dr. Yoest made the following statement: “As a breast cancer survivor, I applaud the decision made by the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the billion-dollar, abortion mega-provider, Planned Parenthood. The work of the Komen Foundation has life-saving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death. When I learned that the foundation was using donated funds to support abortion providers, I stopped running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. In the future, I’ll be racing with them to support this courageous decision.”
Komen says it is halting its funding of Planned Parenthood due to public pressure from pro-life groups and the impending Congressional investigation of the abortion giant. According to a report from the Associated Press, “Many of the allegations [which sparked the Congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood] were outlined in a report presented to Stearns last year by Americans United for Life, a national anti-abortion group, which urged him to investigate.”
On January 23, 2012, Rachel Maddow of MSNBC discussed AUL’s legislative success as detailed in a Washington Post Q&A with Dr. Charmaine Yoest.
On 1/23/2012, Rep. Marlin Stutzman of Indiana discusses that state’s rankings and status as a “most improved” state in AUL’s Life List rankings.
On January 23, 2012, Rep. John Fleming discussed AUL’s Life List rankings and the fact that Louisiana was ranked #1 for the second time in the past 3 years.
“The tremendous gains made at the state, federal and judicial levels in
2011 are only the beginning,” said Dr. Yoest.
“As a former leader within Planned Parenthood, I know just how powerful changes in law and public policy can be,” said Johnson. “At AUL we will continue to expose Planned Parenthood. The American taxpayer should no longer be forced to subsidize the nation’s largest abortion provider. I realize the stakes; I worked there.”
WASHINGTON, D.C. (01-23-12) – Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest and well-known former Planned Parenthood clinic director Abby Johnson joined forces during Monday’s March for Life, walking together along with thousands to celebrate the hope of a nation in which everyone is welcomed in life and protected in law.
Johnson recently joined AUL as a Senior Policy Advisor, helping to refine and advocate for pro-life public policy at the state level. While at Planned Parenthood, Johnson was a clinic director in the fourth largest Planned Parenthood affiliate in the United States.
“At this critical juncture, AUL’s focus on crafting constitutionally sound and cutting edge model legislation is paving the way for an even better 2012,” said Dr. Yoest. In 2011, 47 states considered more than 460 measures related to abortion and the overwhelming majority of these measures were life-affirming. As a result, more than 70 life-affirming, abortion-related measures were enacted.
Yoest noted that AUL legislative involvement was significant. During the 2011 state legislative session:
At least 86 bills were introduced in 32 states that were based in whole or in part on AUL’s model language and/or on which AUL consulted and advised.
“In the pro-life family, we are also helping women understand how many choices they really have,” said Johnson. “I saw firsthand the devastation in the lives of women who did not realize how many people were ready to lend a helping hand. And I believe 2012 will provide even more protections for women who need good medical information and loving support when facing an abortion decision. Planned Parenthood takes more than $360 million from the pockets of hardworking Americans to support their profitable industry. It is time for a thorough investigation of Planned Parenthood so that women and girls will be protected and lives can be saved.”
Media Advisory: Dr. Yoest and Ms. Johnson are available for interview by contacting press@aul.org
Leading up to the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, AUL released two major reports detailing how life was protected in law and advanced in public policy debates.
AUL released its seventh annual “Life List” – a ranking of all 50 states based on the way each addresses a comprehensive list of life issues – from abortion to euthanasia. For the second time in three years, Louisiana tops the list, followed closely by Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Arkansas. To read more click here.
Today the Obama Administration added insult to injury, announcing that it would give some religious nonprofits an additional year to “adapt” to its coercive mandate that nearly all insurance plans provide coverage for the abortion-inducing drug ella. Essentially, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius announced that these employers have one more year to get their priorities straight and align their consciences with the anti-life agenda of the Obama Administration.
Secretary Sebelius stated the “extension” for nonprofit groups with a religious-based objection to providing coverage for “contraception,” was “the appropriate balance” for “respecting religious freedom.”
Putting an expiration date on the freedom of conscience is not a “balance”; it is an utter denial of rights guaranteed by the First Amendment.
Despite numerous comments to HHS (including from Americans United for Life) and pending litigation noting that the Obama Administration’s mandate to pay for drugs and devices with life-ending mechanisms of action—including the abortion-inducing drug ella – is unconstitutional, against current federal and state conscience protections, and directly contrary to the stated intent of the “preventive care” provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the Obama Administration is standing by its coercive mandate, eviscerating the freedom of conscience and freedom of choice for pro-life Americans.
Even the one year extension of constitutional rights announced by HHS is inappropriately limited in who it applies to.
Only nonprofit employers who do not currently, as of today, offer “contraceptive” coverage –for religious based reasons— are eligible. This is problematic in several ways.
First, the Obama Administration’s mandate is expansive: insurance plans must cover all FDA-approved contraceptives, which includes ella a so-called “emergency contraceptive” which can “work” by killing a human embryo even after implantation. Secretary Sebelius’ statement in no way indicates that an employer who has a conscientious objection to providing coverage for a drug such as ella, but perhaps not other FDA-labeled contraceptives, is allowed a year “to adapt” its conscience. Rather, she stated that only nonprofit employers who do not provide, generally, “contraceptive coverage” are eligible for the extension.
Second, this certainly excludes any employer who may not know its plan currently provides coverage for drugs and devices with life-ending mechanisms of action, such as ella (a drug that was only approved in August 2010, after the passage of the ACA). Should you discover later that a morally objectionable item or service is in your coverage, or if you were currently in the process of negotiating it out of your plan: too bad, so sad.
Third, and importantly, freedom of religion is a core American principle, but it is important the concept of conscience not be narrowly defined as a religious. Non-religiously affiliated persons and institutions (whether nonprofits of for-profits) have consciences that can likewise be violated by mandates and coercive participation in healthcare services that violate their consciences nonetheless.
Conscience is at the heart of the American experience. Most Americans recognize the religious freedom found in the First Amendment of the United States Constitution. What Americans may not realize is that an early draft of the Amendment written by James Madison included the following: “The Civil Rights of none shall be abridged on account of religious belief or worship, nor shall any national religion be established, nor shall the full and equal rights of conscience be in any manner, nor on any pretext infringed.” Though not included in the final version, it is fair to say that it was assumed by the Founders to be included therein.
Further, even those religious nonprofits who qualify for a one-year extension will be, according to Secretary Sebelius, required to “state that contraceptive services are available at sites such as community health centers, public clinics, and hospitals with income-based support.” Thus, part of the Obama Administration’s “adapting” process is to facilitate—regardless of any conscientious concern in doing so—obtaining the drugs and devices to which the religious nonprofits object.
Unfortunately, the Obama Administration’s announcement today clarifies that it will not consider the legitimate and serious concerns of pro-life Americans who conscientiously object to paying for drugs and devices with life-ending mechanisms of action, including the abortion-inducing drug ella. Once again, for Secretary Sebelius and the Obama Administration, its anti-life agenda trumps basic constitutionally-guaranteed rights.
The year 2011 was great for the pro-life movement Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Nebraska and Arkansas.
According to an annual ranking released Thursday by Americans United for Life (AUL), on the eve of the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, those are the most pro-life states in the nation.
In fact, it was a banner year for the pro-life movement all across the country, as 32 states introduced 86 bills based on AUL model legislation. Even better, 47 states considered 460 pro-life bills, ultimately adopting more than 70 of them.
“As the legal arm of the pro-life movement, the AUL legal team has created the architecture for reversing Roe v. Wade,” said AUL CEO and President Dr. Charmaine Yoest. “The states are preparing for the day after Roe. And as the Life List documents, we’re seeing tremendous gains in defending life in law.”
According to the list, Arizona, Indiana, Kansas, North Carolina and Utah were the “most improved” states from 2010; Washington, California, Hawaii, Vermont and Montana rounded out the bottom as the least life-affirming states in the union.
