Komen Foundation Backs Down: Reinstates Planned Parenthood Funding
An apology and a reversal from prominent breast cancer group that stripped funding from Planned Parenthood.
FOX News Radio’s Steve Taylor reports from Washington DC:
The Susan Komen Foundation now says it will continue making grants to Planned Parenthood to finance breast cancer screening.
The Komen Foundation said it was “distressed” that anyone thought its funding cutoff earlier this week was political.
Critics say Komen stopped the grants to satisfy anti-abortion opponents of Planned Parenthood. Loud protests followed that action.
Now the Komen board apologizes, ”for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives.”
In Washington, Steve Taylor, FOX News Radio.
Statement from Susan G. Komen for the CureŽ
DALLAS, TX — February 1, 2012 — We are dismayed and extremely disappointed that actions we have taken to strengthen our granting process have been widely mischaracterized. It is necessary to set the record straight.
Starting in 2010, Komen began an initiative to help us do a better job of measuring the impact of community grants. This is important because we invest significant dollars in our local community programs–$93 million in 2011, which provided for 700,000 breast health screenings and diagnostic procedures.
Following this review, we made the decision to implement stronger performance criteria for our grantees to minimize duplication and free up dollars for direct services to help vulnerable women. To support this new granting strategy, Komen has also implemented more stringent eligibility standards to safeguard donor dollars. Consequently, some organizations are no longer eligible to receive Komen grants.
Some might argue that our standards are too exacting, but over the past three decades people have given us more than just their money. They have given us their trust and we take that responsibility very seriously.
We regret that these new policies have impacted some longstanding grantees, such as Planned Parenthood, but want to be absolutely clear that our grant-making decisions are not about politics. Throughout our 30 year history, our priority has always been and will continue to be the women we serve.
As we move forward, we are working to ensure that there is no interruption or gaps in services for the women who need our support most in the fight against breast cancer.
