Komen's Brinker: I Made Mistakes

The embattled Komen breast cancer charity has restored Planned Parenthood's funding, seen the exit of a top executive, and now CEO Nancy Brinker is publicly eating a little crow: Responding to an open letter from longtime friend Sally Quinn, Brinker apologizes in the Washington Post, admitting, "I made some mistakes." While not explicitly detailing those mistakes, Brinker acknowledges that many people felt that "the swift reaction" to Komen's defunding of Planned Parenthood was "an indicator of something larger and more dangerous ... the feeling that women's health care is being sacrificed on the altar of political ideologies."

"If I have learned nothing else from our experience of the past week," Brinker continues, "it is that we in women’s health organizations must be absolutely true to our core missions, and avoid even the appearance of bias or judgment." In response to Quinn's pointed observation that as "the face of the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation ... it is up to you, not a PR firm to get out in front" and do damage control, Brinker vows a return to Komen's basics—"the funding of cutting-edge science"—and says the group "must now rebuild the trust that so many want to have in us." (More Nancy Brinker stories.)