Breast cancer charity Komen for the Cure has issued a statement apologizing for “recent decisions,” which include cutting off future funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.
Under fire from liberal groups, Democratic Senators and the media, Komen said that it would tweak its funding criteria that had disqualified Planned Parenthood because it was the subject of Congressional investigation.
Komen said it would continue to let existing grant money flow to Planned Parenthood, and that after the change, the abortion provider would now be able to qualify for funding again in the future. But the statement didn’t explicitly say it would fully restore funding.
“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,” read a statement from Komen founder Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Komen Board of Directors that was first reported by the Dallas Morning News.
It went on to explain that, “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.”
Going forward, Komen 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.”
With this apparent about face, Komen has now managed to anger both sides of the abortion debate. Its decision to cut off funding from Planned Parenthood earned them a firestorm of criticism from pro-abortion liberals, but boosted their donations by 100 percent as pro-life contributors rallied to their defense. Now, pro-lifers will be outraged that they buckled under pressure.
UPDATE: Austin Ruse, the president of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute, tells Life News that this is not new, but more “an effort to get the mafia off of their backs.” I’ve added the full Komen statement below.
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.”
