Again, proving that the best Sunday morning news-of-the-day conversation is to be found on Up with Chris Hayes, Hayes had on four women to discuss the Komen/Planned Parenthood backlash. Imagine that! Women like Amy Goodman, Anne Marie
February 5, 2012

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Again, proving that the best Sunday morning news-of-the-day conversation is to be found on Up with Chris Hayes, Hayes had on four women to discuss the Komen/Planned Parenthood backlash. Imagine that! Women like Amy Goodman, Anne Marie Slaughter, Melissa Harris-Perry and Michelle Goldberg to discuss the greater political ramifications of the reproductive health argument, instead of conservative white men. Will wonders never cease?

What appeared to catch the Komen Foundation and other conservative backers off guard was the immediate and grassroots rejection of this continued politicization of women's health issues by the conservative agenda. In an earlier segment of the show, Goldberg surmised that this is has as much to do with the insularity of conservative thinking (as evidence by Komen's continued help from Ari Fleischer) as well as the class issues, as Harris-Perry suggests in this clip. When an estimated one in five Americans have sought treatment for a wide array of health issues from Planned Parenthood (and that includes men) over their lifetime, it is truly a bridge too far for conservatives to threaten the very existence of this organization.

When one in eight women will receive a diagnosis of breast cancer, but studies show that women of lower socio-economic levels and minorities have significantly less positive outcomes, it makes the services that Planned Parenthood all that more critical and the reason so many every day citizens rose up to push back against Komen.

Republican, Democrat or Independent, the truth of the matter is that we are *not* a center-right country, and when conservatives choose to push that agenda, it all of us that remind them that we will continue to fight for the rights of those who don't get a voice in the discussion.

Also worth reading: Barbara Ehrenreich--Welcome to Cancerland

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