In a move that many see as a continuation of the fallout from a messy controversy over Planned Parenthood funding earlier this year, Susan G. Komen for the Cure president Elizabeth Thompson announced that she will resign effective September 7.
According to the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), Komen is now scrambling to fill yet another senior management position as Thompson joins several other high ranking employees who left the organization in the wake of the Planned Parenthood debacle.
Thompson was in charge earlier this year when Komen decided to rescind all funding to the abortion giant because their internal grant rules precluded them from giving money to any group that was under investigation for possible crimes. Because Planned Parenthood is currently being investigated by the U.S. House of Representatives for a variety of offenses from bilking Medicaid to aiding sex traffickers, Komen withdrew its funding. That action sparked a rash of protests from pro-abortion groups across the nation which caused Komen to cave and reverse its decision. When it reinstated the funds, the organization suffered a severe backlash from pro-life groups across the country.
However, the problem never went away. The Christian Science Monitor reports that in the days following the reversal of this decision, Komen’s pro-life policy chief Karen Handel resigned in opposition to the move. Handel’s resignation was quickly followed by a succession of others such as Katrina McGhee, executive vice president and chief marketing officer; Nancy Macgregor, vice president of global networks; and Joanna Newcomb, director of affiliate strategy and planning.
Two Komen board members, Brenda Lauderback and Linda Law, have also announced plans to leave in the near future.
This internal fallout is matched by external troubles as well. Individual Race for the Cure events, which account for most of the charity’s fund raising, saw a steep decline in participation this year by as much as 30 percent.
Thompson claims to be leaving Komen with a “heavy heart” after four years but said the “time is right” because she feels that her goals there have been accomplished. She has not taken another job.
Nancy G. Brinker, who is the founder and current CEO of the nation’s largest breast-cancer charity, told the WSJ that Thompson’s resignation had nothing to do with the controversy. She is planning to assume a new role in the company she founded in 1982 after her sister’s death from breast cancer, and will do so as soon as top leadership positions are filled.
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