Komen restores Planned Parenthood funding

NEWARK — U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg announced the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation will restore funding to Planned Parenthood for breast cancer screenings.

Komen cut funding to Planned Parenthood in December because of a new policy that prevents groups that are under any kind of investigation from getting funding.

In a call with Nancy Brinker, Founder and CEO of the Komen Foundation, Senator Lautenberg confirmed the Komen Foundation will clarify its policy to ensure that only organizations found guilty in a criminal investigation would be ineligible for funding.

Lautenberg said, "With these changes to their policy, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is depoliticizing its grant-making process and refocusing itself back on its core mission: saving women's lives. The Komen Foundation is too critical to the fight against breast cancer to give up on, and I hope to see all women's health groups put politics aside and again work together on their shared missions. I am pleased that critical funding will be allowed to flow from the Komen Foundation to Planned Parenthood and to any organization that helps further the fight against breast cancer."

Yesterday, Senators Lautenberg and Patty Murray (D-WA) led a group of 26 Senators in calling on Brinker to reconsider her organization’s decision to stop funding cancer screenings at Planned Parenthood.