It’s not necessarily a reversal. They are saying that Planned Parenthood will be eligible to apply for grants in the future, but those applications will not necessarily be approved. The whole reason the Komen Foundation got into this mess is that several of their top-level leaders have ties with the pro-life movement, which sees PP as The Enemy.
...specifically: Karen Handel, the Komen Foundation’s new VP for public policy, ran for governor of Georgia in 2010, and promised that if she was elected, she would eliminate state grants to Planned Parenthood for cervical and breast-cancer screening. More details and links here.
So what they're really saying is we'll continue to honor the grants now and just choose to quietly not renew them in a few years when nobody's looking. It's a way out of the firestorm today but still allows them to meet their alleged political agenda when it's less of a big news story.
It's hard to find coherence in the news. Supposedly Komen forbids itself from funding any organization under government investigation (which is a really poor criterion, since it lends power to investigation as a form of harassment) and stopped funding for PP for the duration of the current investigation. Has it made an exception, rescinded the rule, decided it doesn't apply, or what? Was the "rule" made up just for this purpose? As usual, the news stories are filled with quotes rather than answering the key questions.
Maybe I can help clarify - Komen will be amending the criteria:
"We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political," Brinker said. "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," she said in the statement. "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," as well as preserve their eligibility to apply for grants in the future.
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"We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political," Brinker said. "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," she said in the statement. "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," as well as preserve their eligibility to apply for grants in the future.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/02/03/Komen-reverses-Planned-Parenthood-decision/UPI-98771328288559/?spt=hts&or=3?dailybrief
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