The Komen foundation provides about $93 million a year to community organizations; 19 of 122 Komen affiliates gave grants totaling about $680,000 to local Planned Parenthood organizations last year. The grants were only for breast health services.
The foundation has long been under pressure from antiabortion supporters and donors for its affiliation with Planned Parenthood, Komen officials have said.
The issue took on much greater visibility after Handel was hired, first as a consultant in January 2011, then as senior vice president for public policy, according to former Komen employees.
“Questions about the issue of our involvement with Planned Parenthood significantly ramped up at the time Komen decided to hire Karen,” said John Hammerly, a former senior communications advisor at Komen who left the foundation last summer after a reorganization eliminated his position.
“The requests were from senior leadership, and they increased in terms of asking more detailed questions about the individual affiliates, the amount of each grant, the exact nature of what we were funding and when they were set to expire.”
Last spring, the board formed a three-member subcommittee to look into Planned Parenthood funding, according to a former Komen employee.
For the board, Komen staff members discussed scenarios involving cutting off part or all of the funding or maintaining the status quo, said Hammerly and other former employees.
Participants concluded that cutting off all funds would endanger low-income women who depended on the service. A partial cutoff would only compromise the integrity of the grants process and not be enough to satisfy critics, participants said. Staff members decided to recommend continued funding for Planned Parenthood.
“It was our recommendation that we stay the course,” Hammerly said. “We thought there could also be significant concern, both from a public standpoint and an affiliate standpoint, if we ceased support.”
In early April, the board subcommittee held a conference call that included three Komen staff members, including Handel. Handel argued for defunding Planned Parenthood. Staff member Mollie Williams, who oversaw Komen’s community grants, argued to maintain funding. Leslie Aun, a communications official, warned of negative publicity if funding were cut off, according to a former Komen employee.
The consensus of the board subcommittee was to keep the funding, the former employee said.
Board member John D. Raffaelli, who was on the subcommittee, had said he was not aware of any internal staff recommendations to keep the funding and that Handel was not involved in the decision.
He did not respond to e-mails and telephone calls Tuesday asking for comment.
Aun also declined to comment.
Williams, who resigned the day after the November board meeting, has declined to elaborate to honor a confidentiality pledge to her former employer. She has said that it would be a “mistake for any organization to bow to political pressure and compromise its mission.”
In the months before the November board meeting, Komen officials said there was increased visibility around Planned Parenthood. In September, Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) announced a probe into whether the organization has illegally used federal funds to pay for abortions.
That month, Komen affiliates in Ohio were coming under criticism by Catholic bishops for the Planned Parenthood affiliation, former employees said.
On Dec. 16, Komen President Elizabeth Thompson called Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards to notify her of the changes to their granting guidelines, a Planned Parenthood spokesman said.
Staff writer N.C. Aizenman and staff researcher Lucy Shackelford contributed to this report.
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