In an about-face no doubt fueled by the massive public relations mess, leading breast cancer charity The Susan G. Komen Foundation announced it would continue to funding programs at Planned Parenthood. In a statement today, founder Nancy Brinker said, "We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities."
Earlier this week, the AP revealed that Komen was halting its breast cancer-prevention-related grants to Planned Parenthood, with Komen claiming that a House investigation into Planned Parenthood's practices prevented it from funding the group. However the House investigation is being spearheaded by a pro-life Republican, prompting accusations that Komen's decision was politically motivated. And the recent hire of Karen Handel as a senior vice president raised eyebrows, given her extreme pro-life gubernatorial platform, which also included her determination to eliminate funding to Planned Parenthood. The grants went towards 19 of Planned Parenthood's affiliates, and numerous PP supporters showed their support by donating hundreds of thousands in the hours after the news of Komen's defunding.
Brinker's note (you can read the whole thing below) also said, "We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not. Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair. Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process." Of course, to get a sense of where Brinker stood yesterday, watch her interview with breast cancer survivor Andrea Mitchell, who basically asked, WTF:
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Statement from Susan G. Komen Board of Directors and Founder and CEO Nancy G. Brinker February 3, 2012 Komen Leadership News, Komen News
We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.
The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.
Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.
Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.
It is our hope and we believe it is time for everyone involved to pause, slow down and reflect on how grants can most effectively and directly be administered without controversies that hurt the cause of women. We urge everyone who has participated in this conversation across the country over the last few days to help us move past this issue. We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics - anyone’s politics.
Starting this afternoon, we will have calls with our network and key supporters to refocus our attention on our mission and get back to doing our work. We ask for the public’s understanding and patience as we gather our Komen affiliates from around the country to determine how to move forward in the best interests of the women and people we serve.
We extend our deepest thanks for the outpouring of support we have received from so many in the past few days and we sincerely hope that these changes will be welcomed by those who have expressed their concern.
