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Karen Handel, a former Republican candidate for governor in Georgia, resigned her job, effective immediately, as vice president for public policy at Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. The departure comes days after the breast-cancer charity reversed course on funding for Planned Parenthood.
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The Susan G. Komen Foundation just confirmed to NPR.org's Scott Hensley that Karen Handel has resigned from her post as the organization's senior vice president of public policy.
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The breast cancer organization has suffered one of the worst public relations disasters in recent memory. Komen relies heavily on positive associations with its cause, but restoring its luster will be quite a task.
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"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," Komen CEO Nancy Brinker says.
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Earlier this week, the foundation moved to discontinue funding of breast cancer screening by Planned Parenthood. The change came because of a new Komen policy forbidding forbidding grants to organizations under official investigation. Now that policy has been changed again.
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The Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation said it regretted the effect of its new funding policy on groups such as Planned Parenthood. But the group denied politics played any role in its decision and said such allegations were a distraction from the search for cancer cures.
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So why did the nation's largest breast cancer charity cut off funding to Planned Parenthood? The answer depends on whom you ask. Here's a quick Q&A about Tuesday's decision.
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The breast cancer charity says it has stopped the grants because of a congressman's investigation into whether Planned Parenthood has used public money to provide abortions. Planned Parenthood says Komen is bowing to political bullying.