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An executive at Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a breast cancer organization, will resign from the foundation a week after the group's to controversial decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood.
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Karen Handel, vice president of public policy and an former Republican politician, posted a letter of resignation on her personal website Tuesday, going out swinging against the "gross mischaracterizations" of a change in the foundation's grant strategy that would have cut grants to Planned Parenthood.
"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it," she wrote. "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."
The funding Komen provided to Planned Parenthood covered breast cancer screenings. The organization instituted a new funding policy that would cut off groups under federal or local investigations; Planned Parenthood is currently being probed by Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Republican from Florida. Stearns, who is anti-choice, is looking into whether federal funding illegally goes to the health organization's abortion services.
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With Planned Parenthood constantly in the cross-hairs of Republicans who now control the House of Representatives, supporters of the women's health organization saw political motives in the investigation and Komen's decision to cut funding to its clinics. Komen's co-founder and CEO, Nancy Brinker, an ambassador in the second Bush Administration, apologized for the funding decision and altered the group's grant criteria to cover only criminal investigations that are conclusive.
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Before joining Komen, Handel, who said she is declining a severance package, served as Georgia's secretary of state and lost the GOP primary during her run for governor in 2010.
Here is the text of her resignation letter.
February 7, 2012
The Honorable Nancy Brinker
CEO, Susan G. Komen for the Cure VIA EMAIL
5005 LBJ Freeway, Suite 250
Dallas, Texas 75244
Dear Ambassador Brinker:
Susan G. Komen for the Cure has been the recognized leader for more 30 years in the fight against breast cancer here in the US - and increasingly around the world.
