The resignation of Karen Handel
Read Time:4 Minute, 6 Second
Karen Handel was hired by The Susan G. Komen Foundation in 2011 after a failed gubernatorial campaign in Georgia. Ms. Handel had run on a fierce anti-choice platform, even posting about Planned Parenthood on her campaign blog.
She wrote in July of 2011, “During my time as Chairman of Fulton County, there were federal and state pass-through grants that were awarded to Planned Parenthood for breast and cervical cancer screening as well as a ‘Healthy Babies Initiative’…Since grants like these are from the state I’ll eliminate then as your next governor.”
On January 31st, Komen pulled its grants from Planned Parenthood, but after intense backlash from people all over America, Nancy Brinker released a statement, vowing to change the grant policy enacted last year as it relates to organizations under investigation. The current policy requires that Komen not give grants to any group under local, state OR criminal investigation. As most of us know, Planned Parenthood has been the subject of witch hunt by Cliff Stearns (R-FL), aided by Americans United for Life. Under the changes Nancy Brinker spoke of in her statement, that specific type of investigation would not affect grants awarded to Planned Parenthood.
In an interview with Andrea Mitchell, Nancy Brinker stated that Karen Handel had nothing to do with the decision to pull grant funding from Planned Parenthood. Unfortunately, in an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox news yesterday, Karen Handel said the exact opposite. Handel told Kelly “I clearly acknowledge that I was involved in the process, but to suggest that I had the sole authority is just absurd.” Ms Handel also accused Planned Parenthood of “vicious attacks and coercion” against her.
Planned Parenthood did no such thing. Supporters of Planned Parenthood may have, but the actual organization did not. Cecile Richards, daughter of former Texas governor, Ann Richards and president of Planned Parenthood wrote in an email on January 31st that Planned Parenthood was “alarmed and saddened” by Komen’s decision. She wrote “Our greatest desire is for Komen to reconsider this policy and recommit to the partnership on which so many women count.” No attacks, no coercion.
During her interview with Megyn Kelly, Karen Handel also spoke of her decision to resign. Handel said the focus had become about her and she believed it was detracting from the mission of The Susan G. Komen Foundation. What she didn’t mention was a petition, signed by over 37,000 people, demanding she resign. What she didn’t mention was the fact that more than 50 members of Congress contacted Komen asking them to reverse their decision, and she certainly didn’t mention Michael Bloomberg’s pledge of $250,000 of his own money to Planned Parenthood. Also visibly absent was any question from Kelly or any statement from Handel, Brinker or Komen about Penn State.
According to Nancy Brinker, the updated grant policy, which has not been enacted to my knowledge nor is there a specific timeline attached to said changes. would affect an organization currently being investigated by the Department of Justice: Penn State. In 2008, Komen awarded Penn State a 5-year, $7.5 million grant for Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. If you dig a little deeper, it all makes sense.
Like Karen Handel, Komen board member Jane Abraham is anti-choice. She is also the general chairman of the Susan B. Anthony list, a group known for their anti-choice stance as well as their influence within the Republican party. Abraham helps direct the Nurturing Network, a global network of pregnancy crisis centers famous for spreading false medical information and using coercion and intimidation to force women not to undergo abortions. Maureen Scalia, wife of rabidly anti-choice supreme court justice, Anthony Scalia, is also on the board of Nurturing Network.
The layers are being peeled away, albeit slowly. What we are finding is an organization that has been falling out of favor with breast cancer survivors and women’s health advocates for a very long time, and now seems to be embracing the anti-choice movement, if not with words, with deeds. Nancy Brinker tried to protect Karen Handel, but Handel spoke the truth on Fox when she said she was involved in the decision to pull grant funding from Planned Parenthood. There seems to be no question that The Susan G. Komen Foundation leans to the right. The question we should all be asking is will Komen lean so far to the right that women will suffer? Or is Karen Handel only the first to fall?
Thanks to Huffington Post, Mother Jones and Planned Parenthood for contributions to this article.
Happy
0 %
Sad
0 %
Excited
0 %
Sleepy
0 %
Angry
0 %
Surprise
0 %
0
0
Fire all of the female board members of Komen! Everyone knows that health care decisions for women should be made by older white males! /snark
Seriously, Komen has a long history of connections to republican politics, especially the founder’s roots in the Indiana republican party. The only surprise is that the extreme reich wing of the party had not already had control of Komen. My initial reaction was that Komen was just becoming another organization participating in the wingnut welfare system for out of work republican politicians.
Like John Walsh, who made a lucrative career of his family tragedy, the founder of Komen has made her sister’s death worth a half million a year plus income to herself. Minimal research on the internet indicates that Komen has always been a corporatist organization more interested in the marketing and money raising than in curing cancer.
Erin, it now seems that the Board of Directors has been slowly loading the foundation with Republicans who are anti choice people with the help of Ari Fleischer.