The founder of Susan G. Komen for the Cure on Thursday insisted that the public response to her organization's decision to discontinue its partnership with Planned Parenthood had been "very, very favorable."
CEO Nancy G. Brinker told MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell called reports that the Komen Foundation cut funds for breast cancer screenings a "mischaracterization."
"We are not defunding Planned Parenthood," Brinker claimed. "We have three grants that will go on this year and they will probably be eligible for the next grant cycle."
The MSNBC host pointed out that those funds would only continue through the end of the grant cycle.
"But you've said that this is the one group out of 2,000 grantees, Planned Parenthood is the only group that comes under the rubric of this new policy, which is to not fund any organization that is under investigation," Mitchell noted. "And the investigation from Congressman [Cliff Stearns (R-FL)], many believe is trumped up."
"The investigation isn't the only issue," Brinker replied. "Many of the grants we were doing with Planned Parenthood do not meet new standards of criteria for how we can measure our results and effectiveness in communities."
"What do you do about the fact that donors are pulling back?" Mitchell pressed. "Some people would say that the anger that's being expressed is going to hit you in the pocketbook. You have worked so hard to create a bipartisan organization. Look at your Facebook page. Your Facebook page has people cutting pink ribbons in half. Your branding is at stake."
"Andrea, all I can tell you is that the responses we are getting are very, very favorable," Brinker asserted.
Watch this video from MSNBC's Andrea Mitchell Reports, broadcast Feb. 2, 2012.
