Planned Parenthood is asking for emergency funds to finance mammograms for low-income women after a split nationally with the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation.
Officials with the Southern Arizona chapter of Komen deferred to the national group for a comment Tuesday on the rift.
National Komen spokeswoman Leslie Aun told The Associated Press that the group could not continue to give money to Planned Parenthood because Komen has adopted new guidelines that bar it from funding organizations under congressional investigation.
The House Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee announced in the fall an investigation into Planned Parenthood's funding. The congressional inquiry was launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, a Florida Republican who is trying to figure out whether public money was improperly spent on abortions.
The AP says the loss of Komen funding will mean "a cutoff of hundreds of thousands of dollars in grants, mainly for breast exams" for Planned Parenthood, whose leaders say the Komen group caved to pressure from anti-abortion groups.
The Dallas-based national Susan G. Komen group is the largest breast-cancer organization in the U.S. It began partnering with Planned Parenthood in 2005 and has been criticized by anti-abortion groups since.
Over the past five years, Komen foundation money has funded nearly 170,000 clinical breast exams performed nationwide at Planned Parenthood health centers, as well as more than 6,400 mammogram referrals, officials said.
"We are committed to ensuring that screening and treatment for breast cancer are available for all Southern Arizonans," Jaimie Leopold, the Susan G. Komen Southern Arizona executive director, said in an email Tuesday. "Because we have such a strong community hospital and health center system in Southern Arizona, we have not had to deal with this challenge in our community."
But Planned Parenthood Arizona disagreed there hasn't been a challenge, saying the money has been important in Arizona. It says that through 12 years of support from Komen, Planned Parenthood Arizona has provided free mammograms to hundreds of women who might not otherwise have received them.
For several years, Komen provided funding to Planned Parenthood Arizona to support mobile mammograms, and at least 120 women received mammograms with that money for each of the past 12 years. Komen also has supported breast health education programs for Planned Parenthood patients with its grant funding, Planned Parenthood Arizona spokeswoman Cynde Cerf said.
"The Komen-funded mammograms have been instrumental in helping women, especially in rural and underserved communities, get breast health care and detect breast cancer early," the Phoenix-based organization said in a written statement.
"In these tough economic times, more women than ever need access to essential health-care services like lifesaving breast cancer screenings. Politics should never get in the way of a woman's ability to access health care," said Dr. DeShawn Taylor, medical director of Planned Parenthood Arizona.
Responding to Taylor's comment, Cathi Herrod, president of the conservative Center for Arizona Policy, said the split is not about politics. "The Komen Foundation made the right decision. Planned Parenthood is under investigation by Congress," she said. "It is a wise decision to protect women's health."
Officials with Tucson's nonprofit Fatima Women's Center, which provides health care to low-income women, also applauded Komen's decision, saying it should never have been funding Planned Parenthood in the first place.
"We believe in well women's checks and definitely want to stop the spread of breast cancer, but we want to do it the right way," Fatima Women's Center board member Kelly Copeland said Tuesday night. "What did the money go for? It was not for research."
Copeland said the funding of Planned Parenthood by Komen would be similar to Komen deciding to donate to Fatima Women's Center. "Why would Komen give my organization more than a half million dollars? We're not stopping or finding a cure for breast cancer," Copeland said. "It doesn't make sense. We're not finding a cure, and that's what everyone races for."
Copeland, whose clinic does mammogram referrals, said the research he'd like to see Komen advance is exploring any link between abortion and breast cancer.
Did you know?
The Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Southern Arizona chapter, has held a fundraising walk/run in Tucson for the past 13 years that regularly attracts more than 10,000 participants.
The local group operates a Komen Shop at 4574 E. Broadway that sells pink merchandise to benefit the fight against breast cancer.
The chapter also recently funded a documentary film, "Mujer a Mujer: Una Conversación Sobre Cáncer de Seno" ("Woman to Woman: A Conversation About Breast Cancer") to help educate Southern Arizona Hispanic women about breast cancer.
Contact reporter Stephanie Innes at sinnes@azstarnet.com or 573-4134.
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