Komen needed to reverse role in serving all women

Published: February 5, 2012

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Susan G. Komen for the Cure has done a remarkable job over the last 30 years in raising awareness of breast cancer and funding research and services to help women prevent and fight the disease.

In a single stroke last week, it jeopardized that hard-won credibility by allowing itself to be subjected to undue political influence.

Tuesday, the charity announced that it would eliminate annual grants to Planned Parenthood for breast-cancer screening. It gave $680,000 last year for Planned Parenthood to provide education and screening for poor and uninsured women.

Planned Parenthood is better known for its controversial role as an abortion provider.

Komen this year adopted a policy of not providing grants to entities that are under government investigation, but it failed to determine the difference between a legitimate criminal or administrative investigation and mere political rhetoric. It acted after Rep. Cliff Stearns of Florida, a strongly anti-abortion Republican, vowed to investigate whether Planned Parenthood had used taxpayer money for abortions.

That is a political statement, not an investigation. If such utterances were taken to be investigations, anything could be under investigation at any time.

There was an extraordinary backlash. A flood of donations to Planned Parenthood quickly covered more than the amount that Komen had planned to contribute this year. Several Komen local affiliates rebelled, saying they would continue to fund screening at local Planned Parenthood affiliates, and Komen clearly risked losing a great deal of support.

Friday, Komen said it had revised its rule "to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political ... we will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants."

That is a more sensible standard.

And while the fight against abortion can and should continue through other means, Komen's interest must be in ensuring that as many women as possible have access to education and screening.

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