Karen Handel was a former Republican candidate for governor in Georgia. Top Susan G. Komen official resigns

Karen Handel, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure official who has been widely blamed for the Planned Parenthood fiasco, resigned Tuesday, signaling that the fallout from the defunding controversy is far from over.

Handel’s resignation seemed inevitable to most observers after the group reversed its decision last week to cut off grants to Planned Parenthood. Handel, a Republican, joined the organization after an unsuccessful run for governor of Georgia on a platform that included defunding Planned Parenthood.


On Tuesday, Handel gave into pressure from activists who blamed her for the decision. But in her resignation letter, she said she was “deeply disappointed by the gross mischaracterizations” of the charity’s change in its funding strategy that resulted in the Planned Parenthood cutoff.

And later, in an appearance on Fox News, Handel accused Planned Parenthood of “vicious attacks and coercion” against her.

“Last time I checked, private nonprofit organizations have a right and a responsibility to be able to set the highest standards and criteria on their own without interference, let alone the level of vicious attacks and coercion that has occurred by Planned Parenthood. It’s simply outrageous,” Handel told Fox News’s Megyn Kelly.

Handel said she had a role in the change in Komen’s funding policies, but didn’t singlehandedly cause the controversy.

“I clearly acknowledge that I was involved in the process, but to suggest that I had the sole authority is just absurd,” she said.

“I think everyone can agree if you have a grantee where there is this type of controversy surrounding it, Komen was doing its level best to move to neutral ground. And I will say, I was asked to look at options for doing that, some alternatives for doing that. I was asked to do it, I looked at it and I did,” Handel said.

Handel turned down a severance package, allowing her to speak freely about her resignation.

Her departure was the most predictable consequence of the Komen fiasco, since her criticisms of Planned Parenthood had been well known. But it also suggested that Komen is looking for other, visible ways to make a clean break with the controversy.

In a statement, Nancy Brinker, Susan G. Komen’s founder and CEO, said she had accepted Handel’s resignation and acknowledged that the charity had made “mistakes” in the controversy.

“We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full accountability for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission,” Brinker said in the statement. “To do this effectively, we must learn from what we've done right, what we've done wrong and achieve our goal for the millions of women who rely on us. The stakes are simply too high and providing hope for a cure must drive our efforts.”

The reaction from anti-abortion groups was fast and furious. But so far, it has mostly been directed at Planned Parenthood, not Komen itself.

Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony List, told reporters on a conference call that “Planned Parenthood campaigns to destroy anyone who questions them” and that “their attitude is that of an immature teenager with an enormous sense of entitlement.”

“This is just more proof that Planned Parenthood will pulverize anyone who dares to question them,” Dannenfelser said.

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), a longtime supporter of breast cancer research, said Handel’s departure could allow both sides of the debate to “come in off the ledge” and end the bickering over women’s health.

“I am so sorry that all of that happened. This is why we asked Komen to rethink” its decision to end grants to Planned Parenthood, Mikulski said. “I'm a great admirer of the Komen foundation and for someone in the Senate who’s devoted ... a lot of her energy into increasing research for breast cancer, we don't want the whole issue of breast cancer to be politicized for whatever battles there might be about reproduction.”

“I salute Komen on their decision. I think we all need to come in off the ledge, get back to focusing on finding a cure for breast cancer and making sure women have access to preventive health services,” Mikulski said.

Kate Nocera contributed to this report.

Kate Nocera contributed to this report.

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 11:29 a.m. on February 7, 2012.