Karen Handel’s Komen Resignation of the Day: The fallout from Susan G. Komen’s now-reversed decision to end its breast-cancer screening partnership with Planned Parenthood continues, as controversial Komen exec Karen Handel — who served as the charity’s vice president for public policy — tendered her resignation this morning.
In a letter to her colleagues, Handel, a staunch pro-life activist, said she supported the defunding of Planned Parenthood, but claims the decision was not politically motivated.
“Neither the decision nor the changes themselves were based on anyone’s political beliefs or ideology,” she writes in her letter of resignation. “Rather, both were based on Komen’s mission and how to better serve women, as well as a realization of the need to distance Komen from controversy. I believe that Komen, like any other nonprofit organization, has the right and the responsibility to set criteria and highest standards for how and to whom it grants.”
Handel, a Peach State Republican who was hired by Komen just last year, previously served as Georgia’s Secretary of State.
