Connecticut Komen won’t cut ties to Planned Parenthood
Emotions are running high after the breast cancer charity Susan G. Komen for the Cure announced on Tuesday that it would no longer provide grants to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer education and screening services. While the Massachusetts Planned Parenthood affiliate isn’t directly affected by the loss of funding, the Southern New England affiliate (with clinics in Connecticut) stood to lose thousands in funding before its grant ran out in June.
But that’s not going to happen, according to Ann Hogan, board president of the Connecticut branch of Komen. “I can’t speak for what anyone else is doing, but we’re going to honor our obligation,’’ Hogan said in a phone interview.
A $38,000 grant was awarded to Planned Parenthood of Southern New England last April to cover breast exams, mammograms, and breast cancer education for low income women, and those programs will continue to be funded until the grant ends in June.
Hogan said Planned Parenthood didn’t apply for a renewal of the grant by last fall’s deadline, so no money has been set aside past June.
“I’m not sure if we would have had to turn down the grant due to the decision by our national office,’’ said Hogan, “but we never got the paperwork so it’s a hypothetical.’’
Hogan said she’s hoping Komen — one of the nation’s biggest breast cancer charities, which organizes “race for the cure’’ events — and Planned Parenthood patch things up quickly since the two groups still have a “lot of work to do’’ when it comes to getting uninsured women screened for breast cancer.
A Facebook message posted by the Connecticut Komen affiliate read, “We understand, and share, in the frustration around this situation. We hope that any investigation prohibiting Planned Parenthood from receiving Komen grants is promptly resolved.’’
The national office didn’t respond to my request for a comment.
But there was plenty of feedback from you after my first post: some of you wrote that you weren’t going to donate to Komen anymore and were sending your donations to Planned Parenthood instead; others wrote that you were going to donate to Komen to applaud its decision. Still others said you didn’t know what all the fuss was about nor why the charity couldn’t be left on its own to decide where it wanted to allocate money for breast cancer services.
Hogan, herself, told me the brouhaha has been an unwanted distraction over the past few days. “We have a race to get ready for,’’ she said.
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