The Susan G. Komen Foundation has just issued a statement from Nancy Brinker reversing its decision to defund breast cancer health grants to Planned Parenthood. This statement was published, among other places, at DallasNews.com, and reads as follows:
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.
This article by Mary Elizabeth Williams on Salon is worth reading. Great links and analysis of what has happened these last few days.
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Comments
No need to rate this, but comments are welcome. I just wanted to pass along the good news!
But it does have that false tinge of accomplishment that occurs when one turns on the kitchen light in the middle of the night and the cockroaches run under the refrigerator.
Walter, it did appear to be a completely agenda-driven decision, and I am glad that it was reversed. It is exactly about women's health. The people at Planned Parenthood are not stupid. When they get a grant to fund breast health services, that's what they use the money for. Why would they risk losing it?
aka, as my friend Kate just said, they showed their true colors. Reversing this decision isn't the end of the battle for them. Not by a long shot.
r
Translation of Komen Statement
Paragraph 1: We're sorry you got mad.
Paragraph 2: We're sad you think we did anything wrong. We didn't.
Paragraph 3: We were justified in what we did but will slightly alter our rules to stop your whining.
Paragraph 4: We'll fund the existing grants to PP until they expire. PP is welcome to apply for future grants but our local affiliates have discretion to reject PP applications if birth control makes the local communities feel icky.
Paragraph 5: Shut up. If you keep talking about this then you're the one hurting women.
Paragraph 6: We're going to get our story straight and punish any local affiliate that strays from the official truth.
Paragraph 7: Thanks to the anti-stem cell research, anti-birth control people who like our decision. via Denise Montgomery
I added this 'translation' to my facebook wall.
Sheila, Denise (aka Verbal Remedy) also posted that in the comments section of the Salon article I linked to above. Hilarious,but I think it's pretty true. They probably spent a long time crafting that statement, but I think a lot of people aren't buying it. And I certainly don't want to destroy an organization that has done genuinely good things, but if that organization has become too big and too political to continue to be effective, then that organization needs to change. Hopefully, that will happen here.
daisy jane, I do hope that legislators are looking at this and realizing the power that can be mobilized so quickly around this issue. We have seen the power of social media in other countries - it's about time we started to use it as effectively here.
Seems they really DID it! Wow.
A huge day of Pause is needed. Only those w/ability to truly ‘reflect’
will benefit proactively. All the rest, though? At least they will have
pause to experience the Empty Mirror. Let’s hope.
Dallas, arg.
As statements from Dallas go, this is a good one. Re. the
“commitment to our mission of saving women's lives…”
Oh, and YAHOOOOOOO!!!
catnmus, glad to break it to you!
Tom, you're just being greedy now. And I like that!
bluestocking babe, I think this caught a lot of people by surprise, coming so quickly.
James, I hope that SGK will reflect long and hard on the damage that they've done to themselves and to the very worthy cause of breast cancer research and finding a cure. They should have been a force for good, and they have really messed that up.
greenheron, I like that too! As soon as I saw the yellow "breaking news" banner on Yahoo, I got over here and put this post up immediately. (I know I get a lot of my news on OS now.)
scanner, without a doubt. This is so energizing!
And I'm going to say that I'm not rejoicing in the potential destruction of the Komen Foundation. What I'm happy about is that an organization that played pure politics with women's health and did something this dishonorable has been called to the carpet on it, and that so many people are realizing that they have some power to make things change.
Lezlie
My money is STILL going directly to Planned Parenthood, instead.
Still I agree, when we all or enough of us all, stand up and say "What the F***!? No, we won't stand for that!" it DOES get noticed. We just have to keep making noise. About a lot of things. We have the anger--the thing to do is to harness it to constructive ends.
rated
tary, my understanding is that the grants that were currently in place will be restored. Whether or not they will be renewed in the future is anyone's guess.
Please understand that I am not "high-fiving" Komen with this post. If anything, I am praising all of the people who cared enough to force them into this corner. Whatever SGK does in the future is up to them. Maybe this will force them to be a better organization. We now know we have the power to unmask this type of naked politicization of health care issues.
I still don't think this is a genuine reversal, because there is no other provider giving Americans what Planned Parenthood does, and therefore, no other way to replace the care they were ready to take away. My sister's org, freepap.org, partnered with PP last month to provide free PAP, cervical cancer screening and also breast cancer and heart health screening. They didn't say, hey, no breasts here, it was and is always about saving women's lives.
Oryoki, what I wouldn't give to have been sitting in on the high-level meetings at SGK in the last few days. I'm sure it was utterly engrossing. As far as replacing the care provided by Planned Parenthood, I think a lot more people will be donating directly to PP. People who may have previously supported SGK. Someone suggested that PP actually start doing more SGK-type fundraising, instead of just the direct mail sort of thing. I think this would be a great opportunity for them to start looking into that.
I support Planned Parenthood and have for decades, I may never buy anything pink again.