Komen is "clearly in trouble, but they have a loyal fan base, and they have been extremely successful at promoting their approach to breast cancer for a long time," said Samantha King, a health sociology professor at Queen's University in Ontario and author of Pink Ribbons Inc., a scathing look at breast-cancer-cause marketing. "I think it's too soon to tell what will happen."
In trying to smooth things over, Komen announced that it would continue to give grants to Planned Parenthood's breast-health programs and that it would amend its new grant process to disqualify only those applicants who are under an investigation that was "criminal and conclusive in nature and not political." Planned Parenthood is under investigation by an antiabortion congressman, Cliff Stearns (R., Fla.).
Komen officials also said they were "distressed" that anyone thought the original funding criteria changes "were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood."
Planned Parenthood Federation of America - which has received about $3 million in pledges since Tuesday, more than four times last year's Komen grants - promptly accepted the olive branch. "We are heartened," it said, "that we can continue to work in partnership" to provide breast screening to poor women.
But if retired nurse Muriel Siegel, 85, of Audubon, Montgomery County, is any indication, a lot of women are not so forgiving.
"Today I got a letter from Komen about donating to the 2012 Race for the Cure," Siegel said Friday. "I called them and told them to take my name off the list."
Komen was founded 30 years ago in Dallas by Nancy Brinker, a breast cancer survivor whose sister, Susan Komen, did not survive the disease.
