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CINCINNATI, Ohio, July 22, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) – The Ohio bishops have asked all parishes and schools to cease support of the Susan G. Komen Foundation after Bishop Leonard P. Blair of Toledo made national headlines earlier this month for such a stance.

“The Ohio Bishops agreed to direct Catholic parishes and schools away from fundraising for Komen for the Cure and toward activities and organizations that are fully consistent with Catholic moral teaching,” reads a July 20th statement from the Ohio Catholic Conference.

The bishops cited the breast cancer advocacy foundation’s support for Planned Parenthood, and the fact that their policies do not exclude embryonic stem cell research, even though they do not believe that Komen is currently involved in such research.

The statement explains that the National Catholic Bioethics Center had assured the bishops that Komen currently does not fund Planned Parenthood or embryonic stem cell research.

But the bishops noted that Komen’s local affiliates have contributed to Planned Parenthood in the past.  In fact, in 2010 a spokesman for Komen revealed that 122 Komen affiliates had contributed a total of $733,303 to Planned Parenthood the previous year.

“In addition, literature provided by Komen indicates that the national Komen for the Cure would not rule out supporting research that destroys human embryos in the battle against breast cancer,” the statement reads.  “Local Komen dollars can reach the national level. In Cincinnati, for example 75 cents of each dollar are spent on local projects, while 25 cents go to the national level.”

The bishops “expressed a common desire to avoid even indirect support for research involving human embryos,” says the statement.

See the bishops’ original statement.