The Susan G. Komen Foundation has reversed course hoping to cool the rhetoric surrounding its decision to stop future grants to Planned Parenthood.
UPDATE---Fri. Feb. 3, 2012---11:38 a.m. ET-----In a long statement issued Friday morning, the Susan G. Komen For The Cure organization decided to wave the white flag. In it, they claim the decision came after their surprise at how their grant policy was characterized as political. The statement reads in part:
"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.
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."
Senator Frank Lautenberg had met behind closed doors with the Komen Foundation and in his own statement on the subject made it clear the policy that kicked off the controversy has been changed. Organizations found guilty after a criminal investigation by a government entity will be ineligible for grants, not those merely being investigated.
The Komen Foundation statement referred to that decision, they chose to "...amend our criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”
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Swift and nasty verbal backlash against a once untouchable woman's breast cancer research and advocacy group has ruled the airwaves in the 24 hours since Susan G. Komen For the Cure announced that its own internal rules precluded continuing grants to Planned Parenthood.
Komen's grants reached approximately $700,000 last year and that cannot continue as long as the women's health provider is under investigation by a government entity. A Republican Congressman, Cliff Stearns of Florida began a federal probe of Planned Parenthood in 2011, to determine if any federal money was used to fund abortions
In a rather testy interview with MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell, a founder of the Komen charity tried to set the record straight. Nancy Brinker argued a very fine point that all future grants would cease but that there are a couple still in the pipeline that won't be interrupted.
Brinker told Mitchell: "Well, Andrea , I frankly think, I don't know, it's a mischaracterization, certainly, of our goals, our mission and everything that we do. in fact, we haven't defunded Planned Parenthood . We still have three grants that we've committed to, at least for another year, through the end of the grant cycle."
TalkingPointsMemo.com reported that 22 Senators signed a letter asking Brinker to reverse what they consider a partisan decision and there is one health official at Komen who has already resigned, with another expected to follow.
Planned Parenthood saw an immediate increase in donations and grants from private individuals and one of the biggest just came from New York City's mayor.
NBC News reported on Bloomberg's statement. "Politics have no place in health care. Breast cancer screening saves lives and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care. We should be helping women access that care, not placing barriers in their way."
The swiftness and ferocity of the responses have been surprising to some and Planned Parenthood director Cecile Richards made cable news appearances last night to explain that she and the organization have no animus towards Komen and neither should anyone else.
Her plea seemed to fall on some deaf ears because the Komen website was reportedly hacked, leaving its landing page with this message: "Susan G. Komen Marathon for the Cure: Helps us run over poor women on our way to the bank."
Nevertheless, Richards made it clear that donations will be necessary to replace the large grants that had grown even larger over the years and more folks than Mayor Bloomberg have decided to try and fill the hole left by Komen's decision. Image: Wikimedia Commons --- Nancy Brinker, founding member
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