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.

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation caved to right-wing pressure and cut ties with Planned Parenthood. Their rationale was simple: Komen had new rules preventing it from funding any organization under investigation, so a spurious congressional investigation into Planned Parenthood led by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) prohibited Komen from continuing to fund breast exams through Planned Parenthood for women who otherwise wouldn’t receive them.

But now, new reporting from the Atlantic reveals that Komen adopted the new guidelines to cut off Planned Parenthood. That effort was led by Komen President Elizabeth Thompson, who knew that Planned Parenthood was the only group that would be affected by the rule, and Karen Handel, Komen’s new senior vice president for public policy.

Handel, who came on board in April, is a former secretary of state in Georgia and a Republican activist who describes herself as a “pro-life Christian.” Handel ran for governor of Georgia on an anti-abortion platform, and was endorsed by Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin. She wrote during her failed gubernatorial campaign that “since I am pro-life, I do not support the mission of Planned Parenthood.”

In December, Komen made the decision to stop supporting Planned Parenthood even though Komen’s professional staff recommended that the foundation continue to fund the organization. The decision caused an “uproar” at Komen, the Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg reports:

[T]he organization’s top public health official, Mollie Williams, resigned in protest immediately following the Komen board’s decision to cut off Planned Parenthood. Williams, who served as the managing director of community health programs, was responsible for directing the distribution of $93 million in annual grants. [...]

But John Hammarley, who until recently served as Komen’s senior communications adviser and who was charged with managing the public relations aspects of Komen’s Planned Parenthood grant, said that Williams believed she could not honorably serve in her position once Komen had caved to pressure from the anti-abortion right. “Mollie is one of the most highly-respected and ethical people inside the organization, and she felt she couldn’t continue under these conditions,” Hammarley said. “The Komen board of directors are very politically savvy folks, and I think over time they thought if they gave in to the very aggressive propaganda machine of the anti-abortion groups, that the issue would go away. It seemed very short-sighted to me.”

Hammarley, who was laid off from Komen last year, said that for about a year, a small group within Komen began discussing the ramifications of cutting off funding for Planned Parenthood. “As we looked at the ramifications of ceasing all funding, we felt it would be worse from a practical standpoint, from a public relations standpoint and from a mission standpoint. The mission standpoint is, ‘How could we abandon our commitment to the screening work done by Planned Parenthood?’” he said.

Komen’s grants to Planned Parenthood totaled $680,000 in 2011 and $580,000 in 2010, going to at least 19 affiliates of Planned Parenthood to fund breast-cancer screenings and other breast-health services. Since the two organizations partnered in 2005, Komen’s grants have paid for roughly 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 mammogram referrals. But right-wing anti-choice organizations have targeted the partnership since 2005 because Planned Parenthood also provides abortions. In December, the Southern Baptist Convention recalled pink Bibles that it sold to raise money for breast cancer research, citing an “unacceptable link” between Komen and Planned Parenthood.

Conservatives cheered Komen’s decision, while others have found it awfully convenient that the grants to Planned Parenthood were stopped after the hiring of an anti-abortion activist.

Yesterday, America’s most well-known breast cancer organization Susan G. Komen succumbed to right-wing pressure and ended its partnership with Planned Parenthood, pulling around $600,000 in grants that allow the women’s health organization to provide breast cancer exams for low-income women. Today on the House floor, Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) — a “big booster” for the foundation and a participant in its iconic Race for the Cure event — announced that she would no longer support the organization over it’s decision.

Noting that the foundation based their decision to sever ties on anti-choice advocate Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL) “spurious congressional investigation” into Planned Parenthood, Speier blasted Komen for falling into the trap of a “political sandbox.” “A hearing has never been held,” she noted. “I guess it means that Susan G. Komen has become a 501(d)(4), because no longer do they want to be providing nonprofits, they want to become a political advocacy group,” she said.

Watch it:

Speier also pointed out the particular irony of another nearly simultaneous statement from the Komen foundation noting that the rate of breast cancer screening for women without insurance is around 38 percent. Meanwhile, Planned Parenthood provided 700,000 screenings for low-income and uninsured women last year alone. By bowing to right-wing fear-mongering, Komen is helping to cripple one of its own key efforts.

Komen issued an updated statement on their decision, “Grant making decisions are not about politics—our priority is and always will be the women we serve. Making this issue political or leveraging it for fundraising purposes would be a disservice to women.” Maybe the organization should take its own advice.

After Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced it would stop providing grants for Planned Parenthood to fund thousands of breast exams for women, many were shocked by the foundation’s decision to cave to right-wing pressure. Credo launched a petition asking people to “[t]ell the board of Susan G. Komen: Don’t throw Planned Parenthood under the bus! Don’t cave to anti-woman extremists and cut off funding for breast cancer screenings at the largest provider of health care for women.” Planned Parenthood released a statement saying they were deeply saddened and disappointed by the decision. “We’re kind of reeling,” said Patrick Hurd, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Virginia, which received a 2010 grant from Komen. Hurd said his wife, Betsi, is a veteran of several Komen fundraising races and is currently battling breast cancer.

Anti-choice activists have targeted Komen’s parternership with Planned Parenthood since 2005. And the assault on Planned Parenthood intensified after Karen Handel, a vocal anti-abortion activist, joined Komen as a senior vice president in April.

Now, conservatives are celebrating the win. “Pro-Lifers win big against Planned Parenthood,” read one headline on the New York Post’s website. “VICTORY!” proclaimed a conservative blog. Here are some examples of the right-wing cheering:

– Planned Parenthood Exposed! Kathryn Jean Lopez writes at the National Review that the “icon” of Planned Parenthood is crumbling as groups break ties with it and it is “exposed” after undercover work. “To take issue with Planned Parenthood is not to be unkind to women. It’s to seek something better,” Lopez writes. “Komen is not the National Right to Life Committee, the Susan B. Anthony List, Feminists for Life, or your pro-life organization of choice (pun intended). And Planned Parenthood’s ‘war on women’ rhetoric is only looking shriller and emptier this evening.”

– Thank Komen For Cutting Funds To Cancer Research! Now that the Komen foundation has stopped contributing to Planned Parenthood, RedState’s Erick Erickson calls for conservatives to support Komen since it listened to them. “If you are not willing to support an organization that takes a stand you want when they come under attack, you cannot be surprised when less organizations listen to you,” he writes. “So say thank you.”

– Komen Is Saving Lives By Underfunding Research! Charmaine Yoest, president of Americans United for Life President, cheered Komen’s decision to break ties with Planned Parenthood because Planned Parenthood performs abortions. “As a breast cancer survivor, I applaud the decision made by the Komen Foundation to discontinue their partnership with the billion-dollar, abortion mega-provider, Planned Parenthood,” she said. “The work of the Komen Foundation has life-saving potential and should not be intertwined with an industry dealing in death.”

– No More Abortions!Family Resource Council President Tony Perkins said Komen’s decision would stop funding “the nation’s largest abortion provider.” “For too long many people of good will gave money to this foundation to help stop the scourge of breast cancer, not realizing that their money was going to help subsidize the nation’s largest abortion provider,” Perkins said in a statement. “Planned Parenthood has claimed they provide mammogram services for women but recently admitted they do not. Susan G. Komen is right to be concerned about the investigations of Planned Parenthood. The abortion organization has been exposed for covering up statutory rape cases and has a history of Medicaid over-billing and other financial misconduct.”