"A few weeks ago, Susan G. Komen for the Cure defunded Planned Parenthood. Komen is a leading charity for the prevention and treatment of breast cancer. Planned Parenthood health centers used funds provided by Komen to make breast exams and preventative health education available to scores of women nationwide, thereby playing an important role in this nation’s fight against breast cancer by providing all women, regardless of age, race, or income, with access to early detection.

While Komen asserted that it defunded Planned Parenthood because of newly established criteria that barred grants to organizations under investigation, many believed the decision was politically motivated. The reason Planned Parenthood was under investigation was because of an inquiry by a Republican congressman. Susan G. Komen’s new Vice President for Public Policy, Karen Handel, had also specifically called for an end to government funding of Planned Parenthood when she ran for governor of the state of Georgia as a Republican in 2010. Despite denials that Handel pushed the newly approved controversial criteria, insiders soon stepped forward claiming that Handel had indeed pushed for the new Komen measures, while also admitting that it was a ruse to defund Planned Parenthood. Susan G. Komen for the Cure eventually apologized, and Karen Handel quit. Still, the fallout from Komen’s significant misstep remains to be seen."

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Ruth Hopkins: Conservatives’ War on Women (Indian Country Today 2/23)