Some of you may be aware of the ongoing assault on Planned Parenthood in the United States, amidst increasingly heated anti-choice rhetoric (with a Democrat in the White House). PP has been under investigation in congress for a variety of spurious reasons (often supported with blatantly false statistics), but with very serious consequences.
The latest peak in this battle hit last week when the nation’s leading breast-cancer charity, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, announced it would halt its partnerships with Planned Parenthood affiliates. This action sparked widespread denunciation of the move, mostly visible on social media sites.
Well some good news: feministing reports that Komen has backtracked on its PP divorce, with an ambiguously worded retraction which still leaves permanent funding up in the air:
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.
Still, the message is clearly not: exhale. But rather, batten down the hatches, Planned Parenthood. The bandits are still coming.
