Pretty in pink

October is usually a sea of reds, oranges and yellows — a true harvest month, fully clothed in autumn colors. But a shade of pink has recently taken over as a symbol for breast cancer awareness. Pink ribbons are the universal symbol for support in this disease that kills almost 40,000 women every year, according to the American Cancer Society.

While it is important to continue sending donations, and giving our time and efforts to fighting for a cure, we need to be cautious and fully aware of the types of organizations that receive the funds. According to Life Site News, “The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has announced it is cutting half of its three-day races due to poor response, a situation that a Komen spokeswoman blamed in part on the controversy over the charity’s decision last year to stop and then renew funding to Planned Parenthood.”

Last year, the foundation decided to stop sending funds to Planned Parenthood — the largest abortion provider in the U.S. — due in part because the women’s clinic does not actually perform mammograms, but instead refers women at a considerable cost.

But Nancy Brinker, Komen CEO, apparently could not take the heat of negative media attention and decided to reverse the foundation’s position and return funds back to Planned Parenthood before stepping down from her position of power.

This rightly outraged pro-lifers, myself included. This is the exact reason why we must obtain knowledge of all organizations, companies and foundations that donate to such entities and take a firm stand for our beliefs. We must find alternative organizations that fight breast cancer and also share our values.

As students of Liberty University, a widely proclaimed pro-life institution, we need to strongly support efforts and stand behind Breast Cancer Action. This is an organization that we could proudly stand by, an organization that is in the interest of promoting change and activism on the subject.

When controversy comes out in situations similar to these, it is best to remain constant in our cause, but cautious in our pursuit of the solution.