Cancer Group Backs Down on Cutting Off Planned Parenthood

This morning, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation reversed its decision to cut off funding for breast cancer screenings arranged by Planned Parenthood.

At a time when political leaders never admit fault and rarely accept responsibility, the Komen foundation did both, and that’s worth celebrating. “We want to apologize to the American public for recent decisions that cast doubt upon our commitment to our mission of saving lives,” the announcement said.

But the announcement was also somewhat disingenuous. The decision provoked outrage from supporters of the world’s largest breast cancer charity because it was unmistakably political. It came during a stepped-up campaign against Planned Parenthood by anti-abortion groups. And yet the foundation claimed it was “deeply distressed” at the suggestion that they’d acted “for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood.”