It wasn't long after our in-class debate on the reasoning for Susan G. Komen's pulling of funding from Planned Parenthood, that the entire issue took a turn for the worst. On Friday, the Komen foundation released a statement saying they had decided they were no longer going to pull funding and that Planned Parenthood could reapply for funding from their foundation. Not long after that, Komen's Vice President for Public Policy, Karen Handel, resigned on Tuesday. This issue of why they pulled their funding has blown up to be one of the biggest controversies and crises that I can remember taking place in a while.
It is amazing to me that a foundation like Susan G. Komen wouldn't be more prepared in an issue that they knew would be controversial on several levels. It involves political views, religious rights, as well as ethics. It baffles me that a company would not even be able to have one, clear reason for why they made the decision they did but instead continued to speak to the public with conflicting stories and viewpoints. It makes you wonder how on the fly of a decision this was and if much thought and research went in to how this decision could affect their future.
Komen should have been well aware that not a dollar of their funding went to supporting abortions and should advertise this when ever faced with the controversial subject of Planned Parenthood being supportive of abortions. Planned Parenthood is an organization that saves several lives each year through breast examinations and mammograms. This is the type of information the Komen foundation should have been releasing when stating that they would be financially supporting Planned Parenthood.
This issue over the past week has made me realize as a hopeful, public relations professional, that support and research are key. Several companies could easily look at this controversy later on in history and realize a better way to handle the situation before it develops into a crisis like this one has.
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