A new tell-all book by Karen Handel, the former Senior Vice President for Public Policy at Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, alleges that during the organization’s weeks-long confrontation with progressives outraged at their decision to pull funding from Planned Parenthood, Republican strategist Karl Rove was advising that Komen reverse course.

In her book Planned Bullyhood, Handel recounts one conversation towards the end of the scandal with Komen Founder and CEO Nancy Binker:

“…If we blink now, it’s over and no one will know what Komen stands for,” I implored.

Nancy’s reply stunned me. “Karen, I’ve talked to a lot of people. And even Karl says we have to backtrack. There’s just no other way.”

“Karl? Who’s Karl?”

She looked at me strangely as if I should know exactly who she was talking about. She said, “Karl Rove!”

If true, it would be an odd juxtaposition with Rove’s tireless work to elect conservatives who have vowed to defund Planned Parenthood to federal office. “Planned Parenthood, we’re going to get rid of that,” Mitt Romney told a Kirkwood, Missouri interviewer in March. Karl Rove, who advises the Romney campaign, has yet to comment on the allegations made in the book or whether he disagrees with the Republican presidential candidate that Planned Parenthood should be defunded.

Earlier this year, Komen found itself in the middle of a self-inflicted imbroglio when they abruptly announced a new policy that immediately disqualified Planned Parenthood — and only Planned Parenthood — from receiving one of the organization’s sizable grants. The backlash against Komen was immediate and unrelenting, ultimately resulting in the firing Handel, a chief architect of the plan to defund Planned Parenthood. Even months after Komen backtracked, the organization was still suffering the consequences of their initial decision.

After Susan G. Komen for the Cure ended its partnership with Planned Parenthood and cut off the grant money that funded breast cancer screening — a decision the foundation later reversing — Planned Parenthood received an influx of donations from supporters trying to help close the funding gap. Planned Parenthood announced today that those donations, which totaled about $3 million, will be used for a new breast health initiative to expand educational materials and preventative services.

In an interview with the Washington Post’s Sarah Kliff, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards explained that, because the organization raised much more than the original grant money from Komen for the Cure in the aftermath of the controversy, the additional funds will go toward bolstering the work that was threatened:

RICHARDS: Given the events of the last year, and the contributions that came in specifically around the conversation about breast health and our work with Komen, we felt it was important to use that money to expand access and education. We felt like we had a real opportunity here to do something new. [...]

We want to make sure nobody lost services or funding. The Komen partnerships are local. Some have continued, some haven’t for whatever reason. We’ve made sure everyone has gotten the funding they expected.

Planned Parenthood’s initiative will provide its affiliates with new funds on top of the grant money they already receive from the Komen charity, including an additional $1 million to help pay for more preventative screenings like mammograms, biopsies, and ­ultrasounds. The donation money will also be directed toward education and outreach programs to target the demographics that have especially high rates of fatal breast cancer, such as Hispanic women and women under the age of 40.

After Komen caved to right-wing pressure to distance themselves from Planned Parenthood — just one prong in anti-abortion activists’ strategy to increase attacks on Planned Parenthood affiliates over the past year — the public outcry led to significant leadership changes at the charity. Once Komen reinstated funding for Planned Parenthood, its anti-choice vice president stepped down, acknowledging her role in the unpopular decision to strip the organization’s grant money. Earlier this month, Komen founder Nancy Brinker announced she will resign from her role as CEO.

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.