After a deluge of criticism, the cancer foundation Susan G. Komen for the Cure reversed its decision to halt funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings. Nancy Brinker and the board of directors released a statement Friday saying, "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 Komen foundation announced Tuesday it would end its grants to the reproductive health clinic, citing a new rule that prohibited funding to organizations under investigation. Rep. Cliff Stearns recently launched a congressional investigation accusing Planned Parenthood of misusing public funds for abortions.
[Laura Chapin: Susan G. Komen Foundation Plays Politics With Women's Lives]
However, women's health activists blamed politics for the move, arguing that the Komen foundation had buckled under the pressure of anti-abortion activists. Friday's statement also said, "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."
The statement announced that they would be changing their policy so that investigations "must be criminal and conclusive in nature" to disbar Komen funding and such an amendment "will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process."
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