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United States News Title: Komen Official Karen Handel Resigns Over Planned Parenthood Funding Feud Karen Handel, a senior vice president of public policy for Susan G. Komen for the Cure, resigned after the breast-cancer group decided to overturn a decision to end grants to Planned Parenthood Federation of America. Handel joined Dallas-based Komen after an unsuccessful run for governor in Georgia. During that race, Handel wrote in a blog that she would eliminate any state grants for organizations that supply abortions such as Planned Parenthood which, she wrote, “I do not support.” The Komen organization’s decision to end about $680,000 in grants drew thousands of online protests and complaints and helped Planned Parenthood raise $3 million in reaction. Komen on Feb. 3 said it had changed its policies in a way that would allow New York-based Planned Parenthood to apply for grants. “Today I accepted the resignation of Karen Handel,” said Komen Chief Executive Officer Nancy Brinker, the group’s founder, in an e-mailed statement. “I have known Karen for many years, and we both share a common commitment to our organization’s lifelong mission.” Handel’s blog posting during her 2010 gubernatorial race for the Republican nomination was in response to a campaign attack targeting a 2005 vote approving a grant for Planned Parenthood during the time she served as a country commissioner. She defended that vote in the blog, writing that it merely confirmed pass-through funding of state and federal dollars for breast and cervical cancer screening. Komen’s Future Handel said she believed defunding Planned Parenthood was “the best one for Komen’s future and the women we serve,” according to a statement posted online that’s linked to by her Twitter account. Leslie Aun, a Komen spokeswoman, said in an e-mailed response to questions that she couldn’t confirm the statement on the website was Handel’s resignation letter. She said she couldn’t supply contact information for Handel. The statement linked to on Twitter said the decision to update the grant criteria was made before Handel joined the organization, and that it wasn’t political. Handel declined a severance package in her letter. Planned Parenthood earlier had said Komen was pressured to end the grants by anti-abortion forces. Komen had said it ended the grants because Planned Parenthood was under investigation by Representative Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican and chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee, into whether Planned Parenthood is illegally using government money for abortions. Komen had originally said it changed its criteria to deny money to any organization under federal, state, or local investigation. The criteria were later amended to make it clear that the investigations must be criminal and conclusive.
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