Adviser to Komen breast cancer group quits over abortion

Published: 2005-01-18

MIAMI (CNS) -- When Eve Sanchez Silver, a two-time breast cancer survivor and Hispanic adviser to the Dallas-based Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, found out last fall that the organization provided funding to Planned Parenthood, she quit her post on the foundation's National Hispanic/Latina Advisory Council. "It was hard to leave people I worked with, but it was easy to separate myself from an organization that I believe is (an) accessory to murder. It all boils down to that. I didn't come there to assist Planned Parenthood, so I quit," Silver said in an interview with the National Catholic Register, a weekly newspaper based in North Haven, Conn. The Komen foundation said the funding is not being used for anything to which Silver would object. According to Rebecca Garcia, the foundation's vice president of health services, about $38 million was disbursed in 2003 to breast-health education screening and treatment programs; of that, $475,000 went to Planned Parenthood clinics to provide mammograms and health education. But Silver was not convinced. "Money is fungible," Silver said. "If you put a dollar in an account, you can't track that money. As a life-affirming organization, this is a dreadful mistake with far-reaching problems for the Komen foundation."

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