After facing enormous backlash to its controversial plan to stop funding Planned Parenthood breast cancer screenings, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has reversed its decision and issued an apology.
On Friday morning, founding chairwoman Nancy Brinker issued a statement expressing her concern that the public believed Komen was acting politically by pulling its funding:
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.
Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. 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.
Here's a look at how some lawmakers are reacting to the reversal:
