Get In Touch joined outcry over Komen’s proposed funding cut
Written by Jill K. Dion
Tuesday, 07 February 2012 10:42
The Get In Touch Foundation, based in Milford, was one of many organizations to speak out last week when a leading breast cancer research group announced plans to cut Planned Parenthood from its list of fund recipients.
A statement from Get In Touch founder Mary Ann Nilan said foundation representatives were “deeply disappointed and saddened by Susan G. Komen for the Cure’s decision to stop supporting breast cancer screening for low-income and underserved women at Planned Parenthood health centers.”
The Get In Touch Foundation encourages women to start at a young age watching for signs of breast cancer.
“The Get In Touch Foundation remains steadfast in our mission and commitment to provide our free Get In Touch Girls’ Program & Daisy Wheels to schools and health educators across the globe,” Nilan said.
“Our lifesaving breast health educational initiative is changing the world one girl at a time with grassroots support and the goal of putting a Daisy Wheel into the hands of every girl in the world, regardless of income or agenda.”
After much uproar last week, representatives of the Susan G. Komen organization changed their minds about halting funding to Planned Parenthood.
“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,” read a notice on the Susan G. Komen website dated Feb. 3. “The events of this week have been deeply unsettling for our supporters, partners and friends and all of us at Susan G. Komen. We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not.”
The website states that the organization’s desire was to halt funding to “organizations under investigation.”
“We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political,” the statement reads. “That is what is right and fair.”
The investigation that led to the decision by the Komen Foundation is being undertaken by a congressional committee looking into Planned Parenthood affiliates to determine if taxpayer money went to fund abortions. The investigation was spurred by anti-abortion Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., chairman of the Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee, according to an ABC news blog.
The Susan G. Komen apology states that the group will continue to fund Planned Parenthood.
“Our only goal for our granting process is to support women and families in the fight against breast cancer,” states the Susan G. Komen website. “Amending our criteria will ensure that politics has no place in our grant process. We will continue to fund existing grants, including those of Planned Parenthood, and preserve their eligibility to apply for future grants, while maintaining the ability of our affiliates to make funding decisions that meet the needs of their communities.”
In Milford, Nilan viewed the apology with mixed emotions. She pointed to a Huffington Post article that reported that four other organizations received money from Komen while under federal investigation.
“While pleased that Susan G. Komen for the Cure has apologized and appears to have made an amendment to their grant-making guidelines, we are hopeful that breast cancer will never again be politicized,” Nilan said. “We believe strongly in accessible, affordable health care for all. Which is why the Get In Touch Foundation is committed to providing our educational breast health initiative — the Get In Touch Girls’ Program & Daisy Wheels — for free to health educators in schools in 47 states and 20 countries.”
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