I made a few donations to the American Cancer Society (ACS) after the disease caused my father’s death in 1989 at the age of 60. I will never give the ACS another penny. And I say this as a person who has lost a kidney to cancer and despite some good research to battle the disease by the ACS.
Why do I decline to donate to the ACS? Because of its increasingly liberal politics and excursions into causes that violate my conscience by ultimately disobeying God’s Word. Am I calling for a boycott? I have no meaningful authority to do so. Some think boycotts are mean-spirited and hurt our Christian testimony. That is a debatable issue for another day. For me, the issue is not whether to boycott. The issue is my personal relationship with God and how I use the money with which He has blessed me. Am I knowingly – even indirectly – contributing to an action that is contrary to what the Bible says should be done? When it comes to the ACS, you be the judge, but it is a settled issue for me.
One of the nation’s pro-life watchdog groups, the American Life League, has documented much of the ACS’s radical left-wing political activity:
• Supporting human embryonic stem cell research (cloning) and funds cloning facilities.
• Funding Planned Parenthood, America’s largest provider of abortions.
• Advocating fertility options including embryo freezing, egg/sperm donation and surrogacy.
• Backing expanded government-provided health coverage (ObamaCare).
Closer to home, the ACS aggressively opposed a bill introduced in 2012 by Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt that aimed at allowing employers or health plans to deny insurance coverage for birth control or abortion-causing drugs based on one’s moral conviction. The ACS joined Planned Parenthood and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius in lobbying against Blunt’s bill. Their efforts were successful. The bill failed to pass by a 51-48 vote. The result has been an explosion of lawsuits and the socialistic monstrosity known as ObamaCare coming one step closer to implementation. Much of the legal fighting is working its way through the federal court system, pitting pro-life, often Christian business owners against the government and ObamaCare supporters. Presently there are 60 lawsuits nationwide, like the one filed by Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma City-based company whose owners are pro-life, pro-family Christians who oppose paying for employee insurance coverage that includes abortions.
The ACS is not the only major non-profit organization with an infatuation with liberal politics. The American Academy of Pediatrics; the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists; the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees; Easter Seals; Families USA; the March of Dimes and the Spina Bifida Association all fought against the Blunt bill and are involved in a variety of other liberal causes. These organizations have been assertive in lobbying Washington for liberal causes for decades. I would much prefer such non-profits devote their energy to badly needed research and education rather left-wing politics.
Meanwhile, one of every four deaths in America is from cancer. Missouri ranks 13th in the nation in deaths attributed to cancer each year. Perhaps those sad statistics could be improved if the ACS were less concerned about supporting abortions, cloning and ObamaCare and put more effort toward research that could reduce suffering.
No sir, they will not get another penny from me – unless they change.