Komen says grant cuts ‘ mischaracterized’

The founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure said Thursday that there had been a “gross mischaracterization” about the group’s controversial decision to stop funding breast exams at Planned Parenthood.

Komen, the country’s largest breast cancer charity, gave $ 680,000 to Planned Parenthood last year to provide health education and breast exams to poor and uninsured women. Komen, which helped popularize pink ribbons as a symbol of breast cancer awareness, will not renew most of those grants because of a new policy denying money to groups under investigation. Planned Parenthood is being investigated by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R- Fla., for possibly using taxpayer money for abortions.

“This has been a contentious issue and one where the ( public’s) sense of our organization has been lost,” said Nancy Brinker, Komen’s CEO. “Our only mission is to find treatments and cures for this disease. . . . When you grant $ 93 million, you have to be sure that you are granting it to the right people.”

The controversy hasn’t hurt Komen financially, Brinker said: Contributions “are up 100% in the past two days.” Planned Parenthood also got a boost from the controversy, raising $ 650,000 in the 24 hours after the news broke, with an additional $ 250,000 pledge from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

Brinker says there will be no sudden loss of services for poor women.

Three of the 19 affected Planned Parenthood programs ( northern Colorado, Orange County, Calif., and Waco, Texas) will continue to be funded because they are the only services for low- income women in their communities, Brinker says. The other programs will be funded through the end of the year. “There will be no gap in services to these low- income women,” she said.

Komen President Elizabeth Thompson added that “these dollars will not go away. They will simply be redirected to other groups.”

Brinker denied that the decision to not renew grants to groups under investigation was directed specifically at Planned Parenthood. She says other institutions also have been affected by Komen’s policy.

Twenty- six senators signed a letter on Thursday, asking Komen to reverse its decision. “It would be tragic if any woman — let alone thousands ofwomen— lost access to these potentially life- saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack,” the senators wrote.