Back in September, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) opened a congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood, demanding that the organization and its 83 affiliates submit fiscal records dating as far back as 13 years to determine if the arm of the organization that provides abortions was sufficiently segregated from the arm that provides family planning and health services. As a result, the Susan G. Komen Foundation cut off funding to Planned Parenthood — which it later restored — because the foundation had a new rule against funding organizations under investigation.

Last month, constituents pushed back against Rep. Stearns, who is currently chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations. Several constituents argued with Stearns during a town hall about how he used his position as a subcommittee chairman to conduct the sweeping investigation. After Stearns answered several other questions, a woman complained to him about how his investigation into Planned Parenthood led to cuts for breast cancer screenings at some of the organization’s clinics:

WOMAN: I would like you to speak to every woman in this room and every woman who have been denied the opportunity to have mammograms with your ridiculous cut…to women, your insult to women –

STEARNS: What cuts are, what?

WOMAN: With your Planned Parenthood investigation.

Watch a clip of the confrontation here:

Stearns’ responded that it was his responsibility as chairman of oversight subcommittee. While Komen clarified its new rule and has announced it will let Planned Parenthood reapply for grant funding, Stearns said in February that his investigation into the women’s health organization is ongoing.

– Fatima Najiy

Today, Karen Handel, Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s controversial Senior Vice President of Public Policy, resigned in protest of the organization’s decision to consider reinstating funding for cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers.

Handel has been at the center of the firestorm surrounding the organization’s unpopular decision to sever ties with Planned Parenthood — a decision that was reversed just a few days later following a massive backlash from supporters and its own employees.

In her resignation letter, Handel openly acknowledges her integral role in formulating the policy designed to cut off Planned Parenthood funding. Just a few days ago, Komen founder and president Nancy Brinker claimed, “Let me just tell you for the record that Karen did not have anything to do with this decision.”

Handel does not specifically defend the rules she pushed through, but decries the charity’s decision to reverse course, arguing that the proper procedure was followed:

We can all agree that this is a challenging and deeply unsettling situation for all involved in the fight against breast cancer. However, Komen’s decision to change its granting strategy and exit the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood and its grants was fully vetted by every appropriate level within the organization.

At the November Board meeting, the Board received a detailed review of the new model and related criteria. As you will recall, the Board specifically discussed various issues, including the need to protect our mission by ensuring we were not distracted or negatively affected by any other organization’s real or perceived challenges. No objections were made to moving forward.

I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it. 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. However, the decision to update our granting model was made before I joined Komen, and the controversy related to Planned Parenthood has long been a concern to the organization.

Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology. Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy.

The idea that Komen wanted to stop funding cancer screenings for poor women to distance itself from controversy is particularly ironic, given that their decision accomplished just the opposite. The organization’s popularity has plummeted and they are already struggling to lure back donors.

Handel not only has a long anti-choice history, but pledged to eliminate grants for Planned Parenthood to provide breast and cervical cancer screenings when she ran for governor of Georgia in 2010.

In the letter, Handel declines any severance package, which will allow her to speak openly about her differences with Komen.

The Dallas Morning News reports that Susan G. Komen For the Cure is reversing its decision to stop funding cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood health centers.

Facing an avalanche of criticism for caving to pressure from anti-abortion activists, Komen founder Nancy Brinker issued the following statement:

We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving women’s lives. The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not. [...]

We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair. [...]

Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer. Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.

Since announcing on Tuesday that they would end their relationship with Planned Parenthood, which provides cancer screenings and mammogram referrals for low-income women, Komen has faced a revolt from allies in the health community and its own employees.

Two top Komen officials resigned in protest following the announcement. Local chapters of Komen also rebelled, pledging to defy the order and continue funding Planned Parenthood.

Furthermore, Komen discovered that if they applied their new policy evenly to all organizations that receive their grants, they would be forced to stop funding institutions including Penn State University, not just Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood, on the other hand, has been overwhelmed with an outpouring of support from across the country. They raised enough money in just a few days — $650,000 — to nearly make up for the funds they lost from the Komen grant. New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg pledged to give $250,000 to Planned Parenthood.

America’s largest breast cancer organization the Susan G. Komen Foundation is sustaining serious blowback from its decision to sever ties with Planned Parenthood. Though the foundation insists its a non-partisan non-profit, its new rule only targets Planned Parenthood based on the politically-motivated agenda of anti-choice Republican lawmakers has certainly jeopardized its neutrality.

Today on MSNBC, host Andrea Mitchell — herself a breast cancer survivor — also pointed out to Komen’s founder and former George W. Bush Ambassador Nancy Brinker that the move is pummeling the foundation’s brand. Brinker, however, insisted that the responses the foundation received were nothing but “very, very favorable”:

MITCHELL: What do you do about the fact that donors are pulling back. Some people would say that the anger that’s being expressed is going to hit you in the pocketbook. You have worked so hard to create a bipartisan organization. Look at your Facebook page. Your Facebook page has people cutting pink ribbons in half. Your branding is at stake.

BRINKER: Andrea, all I can tell you is that the responses we are getting are very, very favorable. People who have bothered to read the material, who have bothered to understand the issues — again we work for a mission, everyday of our lives.

Watch it:

A brief survey of the actual responses indicates that “favorable” must be Brinker’s coded way of saying “overwhelmingly negative.” As Mitchell noted, the Komen foundation’s Facebook page is riddled with disgust over the decision and promises to cease donations to the charity. “Shame shame shame,” reads one of the thousands of negative comments. Indeed numerous donors — including Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) and Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA) — have pulled their support.

Even Komen’s own state affiliates are rebelling. The board president of Komen Connecticut promised to continue offering grants to Planned Parenthood and the executive director of the Los Angeles County chapter is resigning. In fact, the national foundation’s own top public health official resigned immediately after learning of the decision in December.

And now, 22 Democratic U.S. senators are sending a strongly worded letter urging Komen to reverse its “troubling decision” that “threatens to reduce access to necessary, life-saving services.” “It would be tragic if any woman — let alone thousands of women — lost access to these potentially life-saving screenings because of a politically motivated attack,” the letter states.