The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced this week that they would sever ties with Planned Parenthood, inciting an outrage that swept across the Twitterverse and the blogosphere.  Komen had a PR dilemma: Cut Planned Parenthood off and anger PP supporters (what is happening now) or continue the partnership and draw the wrath of anti-abortion groups (what was happening before).

Depending on your political persuasion, the partnership with PP was either virtuous, for providing women with free preventive care, or immoral, for consorting with an organization that is associated with abortion.   Either way, Komen bungled the PR component of their decision.

Actions speak louder than words

Nancy Brinker, CEO and founder of The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, released a video in which she argued that the move was not politically motivated, as so many have accused, but financially motivated.  Brinker said that they changed their funding criteria, which affected longstanding partnerships.

Timing

Komen said that its decision was not political but rather a policy of not funding organizations under Congressional review.  If that were the only pertinent factor, it might be plausible, but all thing considered, it comes across as if Komen invented a rule to get rid of PP.

Last month, an evangelical Christian group called Lifeway discovered the link between Komen and PP, which reaches back years, causing them to pull their support for Komen; as mentioned, PP is currently under investigation for receiving funds for abortions; and recently Komen hired Karen Handel, a politician from Georgia who opposes abortion, to serve as a key vice president.  One coincidence is plausible, but three of them in a relatively short period of time seem unlikely.

Komen was in a difficult position from a PR perspective, caught between PP supporters and vocal anti-abortion groups, but if they wanted to part with PP without angering PP supporters, they should have timed it better.  If they had waited for the PP political fallout to settle before ending the relationship, it might not have appeared political.  As it stands, however, it looks as though Komen bowed to political browbeating.