Susan G. Komen for the Cure Cuts Ties to Planned Parenthood
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Bill Clark/Roll Call(WASHINGTON) — Leading breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure abruptly severed its alliance with Planned Parenthood on Tuesday when Komen officials revealed they would halt a grant program used to pay for breast cancer screenings and educational programs.
Planned Parenthood, long in the crosshairs of conservative activists, blamed the decision on political influences, foremost among them Komen’s recently ascended vice president, Karen Handel, a Sarah Palin favorite who had run for governor in Georgia two years ago on a fierce anti-abortion platform.
Last year, Komen provided $680,000 to Planned Parenthood. In 2010, when Handel wrote in a campaign blog that she, “did not support the mission of Planned Parenthood” and planned to end state-sanctioned aid if elected, the foundation gave an additional $580,000. Handel’s campaign flamed out and she joined Komen last year.
Alongside her now is abortion foe Jane Abraham, board member at The Nurturing Network, a so-called “crisis pregnancy” organization dedicated to dissuading young, pregnant women from having abortions. Maureen Scalia, a noted anti-abortion advocate and wife of the conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, sits on the TNN board with Abraham.
While Komen has not responded to the charges of political meddling, and did not return calls and email from ABC News, the foundation has publicly tagged the decision to an ongoing congressional investigation, led by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., into Planned Parenthood’s alleged use of public funds for abortion. The Hyde Amendment, a rider appended to every federal appropriations bill since 1976, bans doctors from using federal money to perform the procedures.
Komen has recently adopted a rule forbidding it from passing any money to groups under congressional investigation.
But Planned Parenthood’s leaders are not buying it.
“We know our opponents put their ideology over women’s health and lives,” Planned Parenthood of America President Cecile Richards wrote in an email to supporters. “What we never expected is that an ally like the Komen Foundation would choose to listen to them.”
The split is more bad news for Planned Parenthood, which provided an estimated 170,000 early screenings to low-income and at-risk women in the six years since the beginning of its partnership with the Komen foundation. Recent cuts to state and local budgets have made the reproductive healthcare provider more reliant on individual and corporate donors.
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