Colleen,
Thanks for passing that important information on!  I agree wholeheartedly that I could not support them for this reason, either.

I was reading about this today, and saw a statement by a Komen spokesman - possibly in the National Catholic Register - stating unconditionally that they do NOT fund ESCR.  Please remember that there is nothing wrong with funding stem cell research as long as the tissue source is not embryonic.  It is very easy to get confused on this issue!

Colleen, that was a new charge to me, but upon investigation, it turns out Komen ceased funding ESCR back in November and now funds only licit adult stem cell research.
http://www.lifenews.com/2012/02/01/komen-also-stops-funding-embryonic-stem-cell-research-centers/

Komen’s “pink” isn’t the only thing to keep an eye on while shopping—Children of God for Life have compiled a boycott list of all the companies/products which use aborted fetal cells in the testing & production of their food products:
http://www.cogforlife.org/fetalproductsall.pdf

Once upon a time in my life I refused to drink any alcohol for years because I had worked in an alcohol rehab unit and I saw how much destruction it brought.  It was a prayer/sacrifice for me offered up for those who suffer from alcoholism. I know alcohol can be used in moderation so might not be representative of the point I want to make. 

There are vast numbers of companies who have their part in some kind of immoral act.  From child labor to abortion to all kinds of things the church teaches against.  How far do you go when you choose to boycott?  How much of your energy do you put into researching all of this?  Komen funded PP but so does the YMCA, Ebay, Paypal, Olive Garden, Southwest airlines and a TON more companies and organizations that you never hear about in association with PP.  You can google and get a list.  We focus so much on Komen that we don’t realize there are all these other companies as well.  Take a look at your health insurance and see if it provides abortion services.  Most commercial insurances companies do.  Should you drop your health insurance and pay out of pocket for your own versus thru work?

If a sister or a friend had breast cancer and she benefited in some way from the research Komen does I would support her in the walk.  I would hope no one would be pointing a finger at me unless of course they completely eliminated every connection they had to everything that was immoral.  That is not possible because we live in the world.

My comment was not directed only to Patricia.  It it to anyone who can give me some insight into how you think about this issue.

boycotting?
You raise a good point that I believe has been discussed here before.  Trying to boycott every single corporation/business that is somehow involved in an immoral practice can seem overwhelming.  Such is the nature of sin & how it has an effect on everything.  I think the best that each of us can do is to have a properly formed conscience & decide what we think is doable for us & our family. 
I believe that Life Decisions International keeps an ongoing & updated list of corporate supporters of Panned Parenthood: http://www.fightpp.org/

The problem I see is when others who have boycotted company/foundation x, y and z tell others who support x, y and z that they are doing something immoral.  When in fact they themselves are supporting companies a, b and c that support the same thing.  That is really what I wanted people to hear.  Why do we focus so much on Komen but not all the other companies that provide money to PP?  I used to think Komen was the only one that provided money to PP.  Surprised to hear it is one of many.  Yes, these matters are left to an individuals well formed conscience.

boycotting?
I think Komen tends to be in the limelight for supporting PP for 4 reasons: 1) Their pink labels are EVERYWHERE, 2) They financially contribute a substantial amount to PP, 3) They have huge name recognition (they are certainly not the only group trying to raise funds for breast cancer research, but they are by far the most well-known), 4) The biggest reason is the tragic irony that Komen supports PP when research shows the link between abortion & breast cancer.
If we choose to boycott, we can only boycott those groups that we know support abortion & other immoral practices (additionally, the point of boycotting is also to let the company know WHY you will not buy their products/services).  In reality, I am sure there are many other organizations who support such things & whom we are not aware of.  All the more reason to know your Faith & to be a conscientious consumer.

I think there is a big difference between buying a meal at Olive Garden or a ticket from Southwest, which makes a donation to Planned Parenthood, and donating money to a charity (like Komen, before this decision), which gives large grants of money to Planned Parenthood. It has to do with remote cooperation in evil. While it is certainly admirable to avoid shopping at all businesses which support Planned Parenthood, we are not required to do so. But to donate money to an organization which funds Planned Parenthood is much more proximate cooperation with evil.

Well said, Sarah.  I would never criticize someone who participates in the Walk for the Cure (and I would refrain from judging someone who donates to this organization), but I think your reasoning makes a lot of sense as far as discerning where to draw the line.

I am thrilled at this recent development, and pray that one day Komen will stop funding embryonic stemcell research as well.

Oh sorry, I just saw Elizabeth’s comment below clarifying about the stem cell issue.  Great news!  Thanks for clarifying Elizabeth.

http://www.lifenews.com/2011/09/12/pro-life-group-lists-companies-backing-planned-parenthood/

Now you know: all the companies listed at this site contribute to planned parenthood.  They do not list the amounts given or whether Komen is #1 or not. (If you have the info please post it as to the amounts each company has given) They are all under the same category.  It is all the same to me no matter how you want to throw the dice.  Many of these companies are well known.
I’ll say it again: if you have commercial health insurance chances are it directly funds abortion by paying for it. 

Again, if you feel convicted that you should not donate to Komen that is acceptable.  But I disagree with the reasoning you gave that it is somehow better to avoid them versus the other companies listed or your health insurance for that matter.

And thanks to our current president, pretty soon all commercial health insurance carriers will fund abortion, including Catholic ones if he has his way.

That being said, buying a product from a company that funds abortion, when there are no alternatives, is different than donating to a charity that funds abortion, when there are plenty of charities that don’t.  I’m not saying I condemn people who gave to Komen in the past, I’m just saying that I think Sarah’s reasoning makes a lot of sense.

@boycotting: I agree with you that so many companies fund Planned Parenthood it’s nearly impossible to keep up. I can’t speak for others, but my own reason for focusing on them is because way back in the 90’s I worked for one of the first pro-life groups to discover and publicize the fact that abortion is a significant risk factor for breast cancer. I worked really hard on the campaign to educate people on the topic and still have emotional scars (not really )  from the scorn hurled our way over it. I therefore found Komen’s support for Planned Parenthood extra galling—not just boiler-plate conventional thinking galling. How do you justify hiding from women one of the most important risk factors for the disease you’re trying to eradicate?

I rejoice that this is now water under the bridge!

No longer water under the bridge:(

Phew was there alot of talk about this.  PP only got sympathy for it and even more money.

I know, it’s sickening.  The devil is dancing tonight.

Rebecca, I was looking through research regarding abortion and breast cancer and the birth control pill and breast cancer and I found there was not definitive agreement on whether or not either of them increase risk for breast cancer.  I am well versed in reading research and studies and I know that often we will find disagreement on scientific studies.
I was just surprised because I assumed what you said what what the medical community agreed on.  Of course I am NOT saying abortion is ok just that I question the increase in breast cancer.

There will always be people in the medical community who try to counter any research that links abortion and birth control to anything detrimental.  I don’t think you’ll ever find agreement there.  Very seldom is research 100% clear in a particular direction.  Personally, if there’s a discrepancy, I err on putting my trust on the side that is more likely to uncover additional detriments from abortion.

@boycotting: I’m not up on the latest-latest studies, but at the time I began to work on the issue, there were more than 20 worldwide studies clearly establishing the link, and several prominent ones that established the link but whose authors deliberately, for political reasons (mostly to avoid the kind of shellacking Komen just received), buried that finding.

What I will say is that sometimes individual pro-lifers (as opposed to the national groups, which tend to be more careful) overstate the relationship. Abortion does not directly cause breast cancer. It is, however, unquestionably a significant risk factor, and the physiological mechanism that makes this so is not denied by any serious medical person (it has to do with changes in the breast tissue that take place in different phases over the course of a pregnancy. A completed pregnancy actually offers a protective factor against breast cancer; an interrupted pregnancy adds risk).

YES!  I try to only give to organizations were 90% or more of the money goes to the real cause.  Awareness is NOT a cause I support.  Research, yes…pink ribbons, no.