In the wake of a firestorm over the organization's plans to defund Planned Parenthood, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation announced Tuesday the resignation of Vice President Karen Handel.
"Today I accepted the resignation of Karen Handel, who has served as Senior Vice President for Policy since April 2011," founder and CEO Nancy Brinker said in a press release. "I have known Karen for many years, and we both share a common commitment to our organization's lifelong mission, which must always remain our sole focus. I wish her the best in future endeavors."
Handel had come under scrutiny after news reports cited her as a major force behind Komen's abandonment of Planned Parenthood. Handel ran unsuccessfully for governor of Georgia in 2010 on a strong anti-abortion platform.
Read more: Komen backs down, will fund Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood announced last week that Komen's withdrawal of support was due to a new policy instituted by the organization's board that mandates that grantees must be free of formal investigation. Last fall, Florida Republican Rep. Cliff Stearns began just such a probe into Planned Parenthood's funding.
But on Friday, Komen reversed itself, saying it would amend its grant criteria "to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political."
In her statement Tuesday, Brinker said: "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. 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."
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