Komen official quits over Planned Parenthood
In a Tuesday Aug. 10 2010 file photo, Georgia gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel waves to supporters during an election-night party in Atlanta in her runoff with former Congressman Nathan Deal for the Republican nomination. / File,AP Photo/John Bazemore
UPDATED 4:20 p.m. ET 
© 2012 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report. ATLANTA - A policy chief who resigned from the Susan G. Komen breast cancer charity says she stepped down to allow the organization to move forward.
Karen Handel told reporters Tuesday that she had become a focal point in the dispute over whether Komen organization should give money to Planned Parenthood.
She said Komen officials started discussing whether to change their policies in 2010 before Handel joined the group. She said the charity was concerned that some Roman Catholic Diocese had encouraged believers not to give to Komen because it supported Planned Parenthood, which provides a wide range of health services that includes abortion.
Handel says she was tasked with helping develop a policy that kept Komen on neutral ground in the abortion debate.
News of the resignation was earlier reported, according to a letter obtained by The Associated Press.
Handel, the charity's vice president for public policy, told Komen officials that she supported the move to cut off funding for Planned Parenthood.
"I am deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations of the strategy, its rationale, and my involvement in it," Handel said in her letter. "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."
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported Tuesday that Handel opted out of a proposed severance, "which might have required her to keep silent." The newspaper said Handel plans to speak to reporters in Atlanta Tuesday afternoon.
Handel said in the letter that the now-abandoned policy was fully vetted by the Komen organization. Its board did not raise any objections when it was presented with the proposed policy in November, Handel said.
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In a statement, Komen CEO Nancy G. Brinker confirmed Handel's resignation and reflected on the dispute over Planned Parenthood funding:
"We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission. To do this effectively, we must learn from what we've done right, what we've done wrong and achieve our goal for the millions of women who rely on us. The stakes are simply too high and providing hope for a cure must drive our efforts."
Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Andrea Hagelgans declined to comment on the resignation.
Handel had supported a decision that Komen announced last week to exclude Planned Parenthood, which provides a range of women's health care services including abortions, from future grants for breast-cancer screenings because it was under congressional investigation.
The charity cited a probe backed by anti-abortion groups and launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., to determine if Planned Parenthood improperly spent public money on abortions. Planned Parenthood says taxpayer money is strictly separated.
The breast cancer charity reversed course after its decision created a three-day firestorm of criticism. Members of Congress and Komen affiliates accused the group's national leadership of bending to pressure from anti-abortion activists. Brinker, denied the decision was driven by pressure from anti-abortion groups.
Until Tuesday, Handel had publicly kept silent about her role in the dispute.
In her letter, she said the controversy surrounding Planned Parenthood was long a concern to Komen officials.
"Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone's political beliefs or ideology," Handel said in the letter. 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.
A source with direct knowledge of decision-making at Komen's headquarters in Dallas said the grant-making criteria were adopted with the deliberate intention of targeting Planned Parenthood. The criteria's impact on Planned Parenthood and its status as the focus of government investigations were highlighted in a memo distributed to Komen affiliates in December.
According to the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of repercussions, a driving force behind the move was Handel, who was hired by Komen last year as vice president for public policy after losing a campaign for governor in Georgia in which she stressed her anti-abortion views and frequently denounced Planned Parenthood.
Brinker, in an interview with MSNBC last week, said Handel didn't have a significant role in the policy change.
Handel, a Republican, ran for Georgia governor in 2010, winning an endorsement from former vice presidential candidate and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Handel then lost a primary runoff to former Georgia Congressman Nathan Deal, who won the general election.
Throughout the campaign, Deal accused Handel of being soft on abortion.
Deal repeatedly attacked Handel over a 2005 vote she took while serving on a metro Atlanta county commission to give more than $400,000 to Planned Parenthood, though not for abortion services. The Georgia affiliate of Planned Parenthood said the money went to a downtown clinic for services such as cervical cancer screenings, testing for sexually transmitted diseases and birth controls.
A longstanding law bans using federal money to pay for abortions except in cases of rape, incest or to protect the health of the mother.
Anti-abortion activists in Georgia praised Handel's decision.
"I commend her for it," said Daniel Becker, president of the Georgia Right to Life.
He said the organization still had concerns about Handel's belief that women who are raped or victims of incest should be allowed to seek abortions.
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Komen has been successful because they were perceived by most of their supporters as being focused on breast cancer research and aid to women who suffered from breast cancer. In spite of their denials, they are now perceived as being focused on the cultural war between those who put women's rights before religious beliefs and those who put religious beliefs before women's rights.
In the last month or so they have switched from being for women's rights to being for religious beliefs and then back to women's rights. Supporters from both sides are now confused and Komen will have to demonstrate by actions where they stand. The resignation of Handel was the 2nd action to indicate they now support women's rights.
1) Why would the Board hire someone like Handel who FAILED her primary runoff? Wouldn't it have made more sense to hire someone who had a track record of winning?
2) Why would the Board condone Handels obvious vendetta against Planned Parenthood?
3) Why is Brinker deliberately leaking misinformation that Handel was the responsible driving force behind this decision? The Board is just as culpable. Sure, Handel may have pushed for it but people push for all kinds of things in organizations and get shot down every day. The Board was sympathetic to Handel on this issue and allowed it. Why?
4) What kind of atonement is the Board going to make? Now that the position of Policy Chief is vacant, are they going to bring another political hack in or what?
Brinker denied that the position change was driven by anti-abortion groups - but Handel stated that SGK was concerned about the Catholic Church telling people not to donate to them. Is Brinker going to make a public statement then that Handel is lying? Without a firm dunciation of Handel from SGK, there isn't really any point in asking for Handel's resignation because the general public is still going to believe SGK is sympathetic to the anti-abortion crowd.
Brinker also said that Handel wasn't the driving force - but then asked for Handel's resignation (ie: she fired her) So, Brinker was lying on MSNBC last week, then. Why should we trust her now?
Brinker needs to either step down or face this squarely. SGK operates under a 501(c)(3), they are REQUIRED BY LAW to make 100% disclosure of their dirty laundry. I realize that SGK is afraid of Abortion controversy but SGK is naieve. Abortion is fundamentally about women's rights, THAT is why it's controversial. The people opposing it do not belive that a woman is a very important thing in the grand scheme of things, in fact they believe that a baby is more important, to the point that if a woman is raped that she should still have the baby. Why then would these people who have so much disregard for woman, think that things that primariarly affect women are very important? They wouldn't. In other words, what SGK believes is important, they do not believe is important, so why does SGK want to suck up to them?
The ONLY right response to the Catholic Church's blackmail threats to tell their membership to not fund SGK is to tell the CC that we are sorry you feel that way and we hope one day you will change your mind, until then, goodbye.
Grow up. Many jobs are like this.
you would never have known who this woman was without the resignation and apparently are too naive to recognize a sacrificial lamb when you see one. She'll probably start a competing charitable organization to Komen that doesn't give to PP. If she does, great. women win on both sides of the issue.
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Really? You didn't know who she was, when she was running for governor of Georgia? You're that uninformed? Yes, of course you are. And she's going to start a competing breast cancer charity? Wow - just keep those brilliant posts coming, indi.
P0STING_AWAY - Not stupid at all. Your post, however, is very stupid and smacks of intolerance. People opposed to abortion are not Talibans by definition. People who don't share your views are not Talibans by definition. Hopefully, you are not a product of the public education system. If so, what a failure.
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Let me guess.
You were home-schooled ???
MoronGelical christians who want to impose their twisted
views on the rest of us ARE THE EXACT EQUIVALENT OF THE TALIBAN.
It is way past the time for decent Americans to
rid our society of MoronGelical christians, our own home-grown
version of the Taliban.
very sad people those republicians . fill with hate got to be a special place in hell for them!!
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I wish there was a hell ... they would all have reserved seats.