The Susan G. Komen foundation has reversed a controversial decision not to renew funding for Planned Parenthood projects for breast cancer screenings, the group said in a statement Friday.
"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 group 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," the group said.
The announcement comes three days after Komen, a group supporting breast cancer research, said it would stop the funding, saying that it decided it would no longer fund groups under federal investigation. Congress in September began investigating whether Planned Parenthood, a prominent family planning organization, illegally used federal funds to provide abortions.
But on Friday, Komen said that it would "amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political."
"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," the group said.
Some Planned Parenthood supporters had alleged the decision to withhold funding also had to do with abortion. Anti-abortion advocates around the country had questioned the Komen foundation about its grants for months, prompting the foundation to release a statement last year saying that "Komen funding is used exclusively to provide breast cancer programs."
In Washington, at least 22 Senate Democrats signed a letter calling on Komen to reconsider its decision.
CREDO, which describes itself as the largest corporate donor to Planned Parenthood, said Thursday that 250,000 of its members had signed a petition urging the Komen foundation to reverse its decision.
"The move is clearly connected to attempts by Republicans in Congress to defund Planned Parenthood," the organization said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood said funding from the Komen foundation has largely paid for breast exams at local centers. In the last five years, grants from the group have directly supported 170,000 screenings, making up about 4% of the total exams performed at Planned Parenthood health centers nationwide, according to the group.
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Planned parenthood should never get any kind of funding since they support the mercilesr killing of innocent babies!
Oh whatever you say you cute anti-woman thing you.
what? I don't understand what you are saying. Can you please repeat?
Do you have a problem with understanding what is going on? Millions of women die each year, because they can't afford mammograms, which lead to early detecton of breast cancer. Planned parenthood is not in the abortion business. Stop listening to Faux news, please!
If you really believed that, you would want a criminal investigation for every miscarriage. Most would be classified as criminally negligent homicides. If you really believed that, you would be on the street with weapons, not making futile posts on a web site. But deep down, you don't really believe it's the same as killing children.
Even if Planned Parenthood does conduct abortions, it is the woman's choice to have the abortion itself. Do not blame Planned Parenthood. If you blame Planned Parenthood, then blame should go to all doctors, clinics, doctor's office that perform abortions too, then why not go ahead and blame colleges that teach doctors to do it...that's stupidity! You should teach woman that choice abortions about other opportunities to save lives...
Question: What about a woman who will lose her life is she doesn't have an abortion and the baby will more than likely die either way? Are you actually going to tell that woman she should die anyway?
#not intended to be a factual statement
FINALLY! Some common sense in this decision! We can no longer listen to the ramblings of religious nutjobs to influence this type of funding. Remember, religious nutjobs blow up abortion clinics to "protect the sanctity of life."
These types of people should NEVER be listened to! ever, eveR, evER, eVER, EVER!
Evangelical Christians are responsible for neglecting the poor, siding with the rich, ignoring their neighbor, and acting like the America version of Taliban. Sorry, I would take a "baby killer" over lying hypocritical arseholes with that use the cross as their weapon of choice. You kill people everyday with how you vote to suppress the poor, women, minorities, even single parents, of this country. No respect for Christians after this, Jesus I like, Christian conservatives are destroying this country.
I've seen hypocrits in my day, but this really tops it. They let the evangelical factor influence their cause, and then they have second thoughts because their paychecks are suddnly coming to a halt. Way to be compassionate.
Planned parenthood supports the merciless killing of babies!
Give it a rest, people have the right to choose.
That is what you get for trying to establish a theocracy.
Can't take the heat?
Go move to Iran.
So did your mother when she smoked and had a miscarriage.
Dom – Yeah sure, to choose whether or not to murder another human being.
Planned Parenthood's new motto should be: "Killing your baby for your freedom"
You are incorrect. They offer many options, one being the termination of pregnancies, not "babies."
Got it the first time, hyprcrite.
Let me translate AMERICA 1st's comment for those of you who don't speak logical fallacy and over-generalization.
What he meant to say was: "Among the many services that Planned Parenthood provides is termination of unwanted pregnancy, a legal alternative to full-term pregnancy in the United States. Other services that Planned Parenthood provides include cervical cancer screening, breast cancer screening, and contraception."
They do not, in fact, murder babies.
I will not support either organization moving forward.
This incident is not the fault of Planned Parenthood. The real victims are the poor women who have to rely on PP to get crucial medical exams, and when funding gets cut, those women lose out greatly, and lives are risked.
Agree with you George. I want charity groups to help people. I don't want them to be constantly whining and making political statements.
the only thing political about this is that it was given this much media attention. PP has a budget of about 1 billion dollars. Do you think that a temporary stoppage of a 250K donation would change their mission?
Still not giving Komen any more of my money. Very disappointing.
Komen is a scam, and this has nothing to do with Planned Parenthood. I am glad that they are getting exposed for the money-making machine that they are.
too little too late. no $$ for you! (anymore...off my list).
I'm with you! Very disappointed in the political decision they made. I will now contribute to Planned Parenthood. Congratulations on your restored health.
Woo hoo! No more suffering and death because of political ideology!
the only thing political about this is that it was foisted into the media. PP has a budget of about 1 billion dollars. Do you think that a temporary stoppage of a 250K donation would change their mission?
Where are getting that $250k figure from Nick?
SGK made the right decison, but the damage to their brand is done.
The internet is a great tool for punching bullies in the nose.
If Komen also fires Karen Handel, I might consider donating again.
For now, I'll just donate directly to PP.
I would suggest doing research on where funds from SGK go before donating to them. I have heard that their CEO makes about $500,000 per year.
Good for SGK. But, too little, too late.
I will never donate to this organization again. Komen should donate to organizations that help fight cancer like St. Jude's children hospital or other cancer research centers. This makes no sense.
Another blow to evangelicals and Republicans. Let this lesson show what the MAJORITY of Americans are thinking. 1. STAY OUT OF WOMEN'S BODIES. 2. SEPARATION OF CHURCH AND STATE!!!!!!
This is so stupid, Planned Parenthood gages the success of their year by how many babies they abort around the world, shouldn't a GOVERMENTLY FUNDED ORGANIZATION like this maybe try to stop people from getting pregnant rather than kill every unborn baby they come across? Maybes alot of sense.
Wrong and clueless on so may levels. Virtually every word is incorrect.
"Planned Parenthood gages the success of their year by how many babies they abort around the world"
no they dont, dont be silly. And what bit of 'PLANNED' parenthood dont you get about providing birth control and advice?
"rather than kill every unborn baby they come across"
jeez, its this kind of hyperbole that drive people from the religious nutters, havent you figured that yet?
Ignorance is bliss, right EIKai0? Keep drinking the Kool-Aid.
ElKai0 is not the sharpest tool in the shed, that's for sure.
Wrong? Please, rather than just spout out crap, why don't you add an explination to your trolling morons. Your obviously the skanks and whores that walk around getting knocked up and then flushing babys out of your beat up arbys melt vag. Heres an idea for all of you, keep your legs closed. What exactly is wrong about my statement? The goverment doesn't give Planned parenthood money? Planned Parenthood doesn't..basically gloat about how many people they gave abortions to around the world? Contraseption is a better idea then flushing out your uterus everytime you get to drunk and screw some loser? Hrm all seems pretty accurate to me, should probably pull your heads out of your asses and do a little research before leaving pointless comments. Your parents should of aborted you all. gg.