Back in the Race: Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the breast cancer group known for its mass races to raise money for awareness, backed down from its decision to stop funding screenings carried out by Planned Parenthood. Image by getty images

Susan G. Komen for the Cure has backed down from its decision not to fund Planned Parenthood.

In a statement posted Friday morning on its website, Komen’s founder and chief executive officer Nancy Brinkner said the organization was revising a rule that had earlier been used to disqualify Planned Parenthood from recieving a grant.

Read the Forward’s editorial calling on Susan G. Komen for the Cure to reverse its decision.

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

The original rule precluded grantees from getting funds if they were under federal investigation. Under the revised rule, the investigations must be “criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

Komen’s decision earlier in the week to defund Planned Parenthood had provoked a firestorm of outrage, including from many Jewish organizations that had earlier been partners and supporters of Komen, the world’s foremost breast cancer charity.

Critics charged that Komen, led by a Texas Republican, had bowed to anti-abortion political pressure, a charge Brinkner had earlier denied and which she repeated in her Friday statement.

“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,” Brinkner said. “They were not. Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation.”

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount