The founder and President of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the nation’s largest breast cancer charity, are stepping down from their leadership roles six months after the group’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood caused a national uproar, the AP reports. Founder Nancy Brinker will step down from her position as CEO but will continue to work on fundraising and strategy while President Liz Thompson will leave next month. Two members of the board are leaving as well.
In January, Komen announced that they were cutting funding to Planned Parenthood, angering a large number of Americans and inviting concern that the organization was bowing to pressure from the anti-abortion right. They quickly reversed their decision and contend that the latest shakeup is not connected to the Planned Parenthood fiasco.
Background from the AP:
Some Komen affiliates were among those publicly opposed to cutting off Planned Parenthood. In the days after Komen decided to restore the funding, Komen policy chief Karen Handel resigned. She had opposed abortion as a Republican candidate for Georgia governor and had become a target of those angry about the decision to halt funding to Planned Parenthood.
Her resignation was followed, in quick succession, by Katrina McGhee, executive vice president and chief marketing officer; Nancy Macgregor, vice president of global networks; and Joanna Newcomb, director of affiliate strategy and planning.
And organizers of individual Race for the Cure events — 5K runs and walks that account for most of the charity’s fundraising — saw participation decline by as much as 30 percent. Most also saw their fundraising numbers sink, although a couple of races brought in more money.
Race organizers have acknowledged the effect of the Planned Parenthood debacle, which angered people on both sides of the abortion debate.
In response to questions Wednesday about the controversy, Komen spokeswoman Andrea Rader said “I think Liz (Thompson) made clear in her statement that we feel that we’ve moved past that.”
