A vice-president at the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation has resigned in the wake of the controversy surrounding the organization's decision -- since reversed -- to stop funding Planned Parenthood's breast cancer programs.
"Today I accepted the resignation of Karen Handel, who has served as Senior Vice President for Policy since April 2011," foundation founder and CEO Nancy Brinker wrote in a statement posted Tuesday morning on the group's website. "I have known Karen for many years, and we both share a common commitment to our organization's lifelong mission, which must always remain our sole focus. I wish her the best in future endeavors."
The foundation, which funds breast cancer education and research, faced a storm of criticism when it announced early last week that it would cut off most of the funding it provides to Planned Parenthood for breast health education and screening, as well as for referrals for mammograms, ultrasounds, and biopsies.
The foundation said it was cutting the funding because of a new policy that barred it from funding any organization that was under investigation. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is currently investigating how Planned Parenthood uses taxpayer funds.
The move was widely seen as an attack on Planned Parenthood's support for legal abortion. It was met with outrage from women's groups, liberal politicians, and public health advocates, and applauded by conservative groups and religious groups that oppose abortion and have been uneasy in the past supporting the Komen foundation.
Four days after its initial announcement, however, the organization reversed course.
"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 foundation announced in a blog post last Friday.
"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."
Handel, a former Georgia secretary of state and Republican candidate for governor, was well-known for her opposition to Planned Parenthood.
In a blog posted during her 2010 gubernatorial campaign, she wrote, "First, let me be clear, since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood." Referring to state and federal "pass-through" grants that had been awarded to Planned Parenthood in Georgia for breast and cervical cancer screening, she wrote, "Since grants like these are [administered by] the state, I'll eliminate them as your next Governor."
In her resignation letter, which was Tuesday on the website of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Handel said that she was "deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. I openly acknowledge my role in the matter and continue to believe our decision was the best one for Komen's future and the women we serve."
However, she wrote, "the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization. Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone's political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen's mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy."
Komen's funding of Planned Parenthood activities was set between $500,000 and $700,000 in 2011.