UPDATE: Thursday, February 2, 2012

The nation's leading breast-cancer charity, releasing a statement following a decision to halt financial partnerships with Planned Parenthood.

Susan G. Komen announced this week to scrap about $700,000 in funds to Planned Parenthood affiliates.

Today, the organization said:

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.

Tuesday, January 31, 2012

The nation's leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, is halting its financial partnerships with numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates.

The result is a bitter rift, linked to the national abortion debate, between two iconic organizations that have assisted millions of women.

Planned Parenthood says the cutoff, affecting grants for breast exams, results from Komen bowing to pressure from anti-abortion
groups. Komen says the key reason is that Planned Parenthood is
under investigation in Congress -- a probe launched by a conservative Republican who was urged to act by anti-abortion
activists.

The Komen grants, which totaled about $680,000 last year and $580,000 in 2010, went to at least 19 Planned Parenthood affiliates
for breast-cancer screening and related services. Planned Parenthood hopes to raise new funds to fill the gap.