Komen Right Back at You

Hadn't planned on it, but....

"Planned Parenthood receives Komen apology; Says group will still be eligible to get grants" by Pam Belluck New York Times / February 4, 2012

The nation’s preeminent breast cancer advocacy group, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, apologized yesterday for its decision to cut most of its financing to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screening and said it would again make Planned Parenthood eligible for those grants.

“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,’’ Nancy G. Brinker, Komen’s chief executive, said in a statement on the group’s website. The statement added, “We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants.’’

The reversal comes after an enormous furor about the decision and widespread complaints that the Komen foundation was tying breast cancer to the abortion issue. Comments on social networks such as Twitter raged about the move, and donations, including a $250,000 matching grant from Mayor Michael Bloomberg of New York City, poured into Planned Parenthood, allowing it to compensate for the $700,000 in Komen funds that would have been cut.

Some Komen officials had said that the decision to halt financing, which came in December and became public Tuesday, was made because of an inquiry by a Republican congressman, Cliff Stearns of Florida, who is investigating whether Planned Parenthood has spent public money for abortions....

The Komen issue on Twitter generated a steady drumbeat of chatter, with mentions of the issue averaging 3,000 an hour, with a huge spike of more than 15,000 messages posted after news of the reversal broke. More than half the conversation was driven by women, with the loudest share coming from California and New York, which accounted for 25 percent of all chatter, followed by Texas at 9 percent. Twitter users in Washington, D.C., and Florida each contributed 5 percent of the conversation.

“Real-time social networks enable the nation’s collective dissent to be felt immediately,’’ said Mark Ghuneim, chief executive of Trendrr, a social media analysis firm. “This type of swarm behavior is a new phenomenon that is increasingly important. It’s a good example of how social networks such as Twitter enable democratic movements to be felt, not just by government but by corporations and organizations.’’

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