Yay, everyone’s happy Komen changed their decision. But I am a cynical, suspicious type, and I read their statement, which says:
“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.”
That last bit, the “while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions” just left a back door, wide, wide open. By which I mean, Komen just figured out a way to say, the next time they don’t fund Planned Parenthood, that their FUNDERS choose not to. And if they tend toward finding funders that are more conservative – which this current Director of Komen seems likely to do, Komen will have found an official way not to fund Planned Parenthood and to Pass the buck.
I really don’t care whether Komen funds PP or not. It’s their money, and they can choose how to allocate it for whatever reason they choose.
BUT (you knew it was coming, right?) the reason they were presumably giving money to PP was for the cancer screenings that PP provides. IF Komen suddenly chooses to defund PP, then Komen had damned well better be telling those who have supported it in the past where they’re going to be sending money to replace the screening programs that PP supplied. Not to do so tells the underprivileged who benefited from PP’s programs, “We don’t care if you get screened or not.”