Komen apologizes for taking funding away from Planned Parenthood, and promises that funding will resume uninterrrupted. Update.

Courtesy of The Scoop Blog:

Komen for the Cure just released the following statement from Nancy Brinker and the Susan G. Komen Board of Directors: 

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.

I also just heard this on MSNBC so it is official.

Wow!  Way to go ladies!

I am very impressed with how aggressively people spoke out concerning this outrage. I have not seen a response this fast since the SOPA outrage last month.

I still have no idea how Komen rationalized making this controversial decision in the first place, but I think this will serve as a lesson to EVERYBODY in the future to not bend to the anti-women political agendas of the Right Wing fringe, Especially when it comes to something as important as fighting cancer and supporting women's health issues.

Update:  While I still believe that this is a victory for those who are fighting to improve women's health in this country, I also realize that the "cancer," if you will, that still exists in the form of Karen Handel within the Komen foundation, is still a lingering malignancy that should be removed.

However I think the only way THAT will happen is if keeping her as VP negatively impacts their funding.  If you click here you can see a list of their "corporate partners" who provide the majority of their donations.  Perhaps a couple thousand e-mails sent to those on this list might kick start the countdown to the end of Karen Handel, and her right wing supporters, influence on this organization.

Couldn't hurt.

Update 2: According to the Plum Line, the Komen Foundation has NO plans to change their leadership or promise to provide donations to Planned Parenthood in the future:  

I just got off the phone with a Komen board member, and he confirmed that the announcement does not mean that Planned Parenthood is guaranteed future grants — a demand he said would be “unfair” to impose on Komen. He also said the job of the group’s controversial director, Nancy Brinker, is safe, as far as the board is concerned. 

I asked Komen board member John Raffaelli to respond to those who are now saying that the announcement doesn’t necessarily constitute a reversal until Planned Parenthood actually sees more funding. 

He insisted it would be unfair to expect the group to commit to future grants. “It would be highly unfair to ask us to commit to any organization that doesn’t go through a grant process that shows that the money we raise is used to carry out our mission,” Raffaelli told me. “We’re a humaniatrian organization. We have a mission. Tell me you can help carry out our mission and we will sit down at the table.” 

Pushed on whether this means the new announcement wasn’t really a reversal, Raffaelli pushed back, arguing that Komen, in response to all the criticism, had removed politics from the grant-making process. “Is it really unclear that we’re changing the policy to address criticism?” he said.

So Nancy Brinker is safe, as I assume Karen Handel is as well, and there is no definitive promise to continue the foundation's relationship with PP.

I think it is the appropriate time to say fuck the Komen Foundation, and, as so many have already suggested, to send out money directly to Planned Parenthood.

Here is their link to donate.