"Recently we implemented new granting strategies and criteria that some have regrettably mischaracterized and i wanted you to hear from me personally about why we feel these changes were necessary in order to further our mission," Brinker says in the video.Reaction to SGK's decision to stop granting funds to Planned Parenthood has become so hateful that founder Nancy Brinker went on YouTube to publicly decry the "scurrilous" and "dangerous" accusations being made about the organization by angry abortion supporters.
She goes on to explain that the changes made to their granting policy which ultimately impacted Planned Parenthood were part of a comprehensive review that began in 2010. The new guidelines now prevent Komen from granting money to providers such as Planned Parenthood which are under investigation, but they are also aimed at granting money to the actual provider of services such as life-saving mammograms. Planned Parenthood does not provide mammograms but merely refers women elsewhere to have the procedure done.
"This change in policy will affect a number of long-standing partnerships," Brinker says, then goes on to insist that her organization "will never bow to political pressure" as Planned Parenthood president Cecile Richards accused in her statement about the defunding.
Brinker continues: "The scurrilous accusations being hurled at this organization are profoundly hurtful to so many of us who put our heart, soul and lives into this organization. More importantly, they are a dangerous distraction from the work that still remains to be done in ridding the world of breast cancer."
Her video comes at the same time that revelations are being made by sources inside Komen that the decision was indeed political.
According to a pro-Planned Parenthood piece written by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic Wire, the decision to stop funding the abortion giant was made in December and caused an uproar inside Komen.
"Three sources told me that the organization's top public health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately following the Komen board's decision to cut off Planned Parenthood," Goldberg writes. "Williams, who served as the managing director of community health programs, was responsible for directing the distribution of $93 million in annual grants. Williams declined to comment . . . on whether she had resigned her position in protest, and she declined to speak about any other aspects of the controversy."
The same sources, who Goldberg claims have direct knowledge of the Komen decision-making process, told him the new rules were adopted in order to create an excuse to cut off Planned Parenthood.
"The decision to create a rule that would cut funding to Planned Parenthood, according to these sources, was driven by the organization's new senior vice-president for public policy, Karen Handel, a former gubernatorial candidate from Georgia who is staunchly anti-abortion and who has said that since she is 'pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood'," Goldberg reports.
He goes on to quote John Hammarley, a former Komen employee who said the Planned Parenthood issue had vexed Komen for some time.
"About a year ago, a small group of people got together inside the organization to talk about what the options were, what would be the ramifications of staying the course, or of telling our affiliates they can't fund Planned Parenthood, or something in-between," Hammarley told him.
He called the controversy over Planned Parenthood funding "a burr in the saddle of Komen, but it withstood the issue for years and years." However, it became "newly urgent" after Handel was hired last year.
"The internal debate on a senior level rose in the past eight months or so, coinciding with her hiring," Hammarley said.
Another source told Goldberg that when the organization's leaders learned of the federal investigation of Planned Parenthood being launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), they saw an opportunity.
"The cart came before the horse in this case," said the source, who Goldberg does not name. "The rule was created to give the board of directors the excuse to stop the funding of Planned Parenthood. It was completely arbitrary. If they hadn't come up with this particular rule, they would have come up with something else in order to separate themselves from Planned Parenthood."
Komen officials denied that their decision had anything to do with politics in an internal memo generated by the administration in December. In the memo, they specifically say that their decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood had nothing to do with pressure from the Catholic Church, anti-abortion groups or the "political right."
But Hammarley claims the Komen board of directors are "very politically savvy folks, and I think over time they thought if they gave in to the very aggressive propaganda machine of the anti-abortion groups, that the issue would go away. It seemed very short-sighted to me."
Popular pro-life blogger Jill Stanek said another reason why Komen broke with Planned Parenthood is because putting out fires generated by their policy of funding an abortion provider was consuming too much of their time and focus. A source inside Komen told her that Nancy Brinker was spending nearly half her time dealing with the Planned Parenthood issue and decided she just couldn’t do it any longer.
Her source also confirmed that Komen didn't want to make a big deal out of the break with Planned Parenthood, but the latter had other ideas and tipped off the Associated Press (AP) as it usually does before a potentially damaging story breaks. They did the same thing a few months ago when the told the Washington Post about the congressional investigation before it was officially announced. They also told the AP about embarrassing video tapes that about to be released which showed Planned Parenthood employees cooperating with sex traffickers.
"Planned Parenthood’s modus operandi is to try to destroy its enemy first," Stanek writes. "Planned Parenthood does this to try to manage the messaging and ameliorate the damage."
They also do this for another reason, "to frighten other corporations from trying to do what SGK did. See what will happen to you if you dare, is Planned Parenthood’s underlying warning."
The good news is that her source claims this tactic won't work with Komen because "other organizations are anticipated to follow SGK’s lead."
Why would they do so? Stanek says it's because, quite simply, "Planned Parenthood is poison."
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