Planned Bullyhood: The Truth Behind the Headlines about the Planned Parenthood Funding Battle with Susan G. Komen for the Cure [Hardcover]

Karen Handel (Author)

Book Description

Release date: September 11, 2012

In 2011, Susan G. Komen for the Cure was growing weary of the “pink” being tarnished by its health grants to Planned Parenthood (PPH), whose many controversies were fueling backlash against Komen. They wanted to remove themselves from the pro-life/abortion debate and made what they thought was a rational, reasonable decision: seek neutral ground in the culture war by severing ties with Planned Parenthood—and in turn, eliminate a major headache while opening a new, robust fund-raising channel.

Karen Handel, the organization’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy, was tasked with identifying options to disengage. In November, the Komen management and board decided to move forward. Komen believed that they and PPH had made a “gentle ladies” pact, agreeing to part ways amicably and acknowledging that a media firestorm was in no one’s best interest. Yet, six weeks later, PPH unleashed a media campaign so viral and so seamlessly executed that it must have been in the works for some time. PPH attacked Komen against the backdrop of the Obama administration’s clash with the Catholic Church over contraception. After just three days, following hysterical cries that “Komen was abandoning women,” Komen capitulated and reversed course. Handel—a lifelong pro-life Republican who was raised Catholic—was immediately made the target. She resigned within days of Komen’s reversal. Liberals called her a right-wing Trojan horse. The pro-life community hailed her as a hero. She insists she is neither.

Why did Planned Parenthood attack? Was Komen simply a pawn in something bigger? In this book, Karen Handel finally speaks.

***

For at least a decade, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, had been dealing with the backlash from pro-life conservatives because of its grants to Planned Parenthood, the world’s largest abortion provider. According to Karen Handel, Komen’s Senior Vice President of Public Policy in 2011, the two organizations had mutually agreed to part ways amicably, but then Planned Parenthood surprisingly unleashed a media attack against Komen, waving the banner of women’s health as a shield for its underlying political agenda. Public criticism against Komen intensified with damaging consequences, eventually concluding in Komen’s surrender and Karen’s resignation.

In daring to walk away, Komen had unwittingly ignited a battle in which it became collateral damage in a larger election-year war between liberals and conservatives for the souls (and votes!) of women and the nation’s conscience—with abortion and contraception linked as ultimate wedge issues.

What exactly went on inside this firestorm of controversy? Were there larger forces at play? In this tell-all, highly charged account, Karen Handel breaks the silence and finally reveals what really happened in the winter of 2011.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Karen Handel built her career on sound fiscal and organizational management in both the public and private sector. With tremendous perseverance and determination, she has had a successful political and business career. Karen has held senior management positions with several major companies and served as president of one of Georgia’s largest chambers of commerce. Most recently, Karen served as Senior Vice President of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, overseeing its federal and state policy efforts. She has served as Georgia’s first elected Republican Secretary of State, as well as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Sonny Perdue. Karen and her husband Steve have been married for twenty years and reside in Georgia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Howard Books (September 11, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1451697945
• ISBN-13: 978-1451697940
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #462,122 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #58 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Women's Studies > Abortion & Birth Control

More About the Author

SECRETARY OF THE STATE OF GEORGIA (2007 - 2010)

FORMER SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR PUBLIC POLICY AT SUSAN G. KOMEN FOR THE CURE

Karen Handel built her career on sound fiscal and organizational management in both the public and private sector. With tremendous perseverance and determination, she has had a successful political and business career. Most recently, Karen served as Senior VP of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, overseeing its federal and state policy efforts. She has served as Georgia's first elected Republican Secretary of State, as well as Deputy Chief of Staff to Governor Sonny Perdue.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 26 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Uneven, but interesting November 21, 2012

By Elizabeth A. Root

Format:Hardcover

I had trouble deciding how many stars to give this often interesting but very uneven book. I almost gave up during the introduction, but I persisted and found the book very interesting, except when Handel went into histrionic partisan mode. Handel has led a very interesting life, and if she has done all she says, she has a lot to be proud of.

Karen Handel is the one blamed for leading Komen to drop Planned Parenthood (PP). The thing is, even if it was Handel's idea (she insists it wasn't), she couldn't have done it by herself. She is left in the position of an outside lover whom a reconciling couple has agreed bears all the blame for the infidelity. That saves face and makes it easier to reconcile, but it isn't true. Say what you will, it remains that the infidel agreed to the affair and is the real betrayer. Set up as the scapegoat, Handel is understandably bitter.

Komen, according to Handel, couldn't make up its corporate mind. They wanted to dump Planned Parenthood for a number of reasons including dissatisfaction with their work and also because they were under enormous pressure from the prolife/antiabortion forces. This is a point at which I have problems with Handel. If PP was a bully, so was the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, et al. They were the other pincher putting pressure on Komen and Handel. Handel goes into the most detail about the Catholic church's backlash, beginning on p.83. Komen has worked with numerous Catholic organizations in the past, both in giving them grants and getting their help raising money. Then the Church, and like-minded organizations, cut all ties unless Komen cut ties with PP. Handel doesn't fault them for pressuring and hurting Komen.

Handel is very inconsistent in what she says about these issues. The problem seems to have been that Komen didn't want to admit to the latter reason knowing that they would offend some of their friends. They were also ambivalent about PP and their past relationship. At this point, I had a lot of sympathy for Handel, she simply could get not direction from, or please, people who can't make up their mind, and she probably would have done well to walk away at this point. So Komen tried to explain its actions via their new grant system and a reluctance to deal with organizations under investigation by someone or another. Apparently they hoped that they could tell the anti-abortion/pro-life forces that they were dropping PP over abortion, but keep this news from PP; a futile hope. Then they couldn't keep their story straight, backtracked and contradicted themselves. If it had truly been a matter of grants, then Komen should just have announced the new standards to all potential grantees and let the chips fall where they may. Even if PP couldn't connect the dots regarding the backlash, the fact that Komen was hiring publicists and making a PP a special case would have told them what was up. Handel is outraged that PP and its allies refused to accept this clumsy spin, when they knew that there was more to this decision.

Handel claims that Komen was trying to be neutral in the abortion struggle, but I don't see how withdrawing grants from PP because they also perform abortions is being neutral on the subject of induced abortions. After all, PP wasn't being given grants to perform abortions, and if Komen had any sense they made it clear in the grants that the money was to be used strictly for breast cancer-related projects. They should do that with all their grantees whether they do anything controversial or not. Neutrality would either be to avoid anyone who has a position on the subject or deal with anyone regardless of their opinion. I'm sure that Komen preferred the latter, but the prolife/antiabortion forces were pressuring them to choose sides. Handel argues that this was not a political decision but a financial one, but it was still forcing Komen to take a side in the culture wars. I suspect that if PP had accepted Komen's decision gracefully, they could have expected that every organization that they dealt with would be pressured just as Komen was.

So Handel's complaints about PP are a little hollow and a lot inconsistent. She sometimes goes into a partisan histrionic mode. She complains about PP's slick political/economic arrangements, but there are a lot of organizations that I find a lot scarier who do the same, liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican. These things have generated a lot of outrage over the years, but the politician don't care to put a stop to it.

She goes a bit off the deep end and almost talks as if PP and the left have sinister occult powers and can summon demons, when the truth is that they have a constituency of American citizens who don't even have horns and tails. Just like the right, about whom my liberal friends make similar claims. Life is complicated; full of hard decisions and compromise, and honorable people can disagree. And everyone who agrees with you isn't always honorable. Throughout the body of the book, I thought that Handel had had enough thrown at her that she would recognize this simple point, but in the end she goes back to blind partisan mode. I can understand why Handel is bitter about PP, but having read about the pressure Komen was under from both sides I take a different view.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Out to Lunch April 25, 2013

By David Margulies

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

This book reminds me of the scene in Blazing Saddles where the man puts a gun to his own head and threatens to shoot.
If the objective of this book is to bash Planned Parenthood the author pulled the trigger. Planned Parenthood comes across as politically savvy with a strong message and one voice. The Komen organization is portrayed as amazingly out of touch, prone to hiring numerous expensive political PR firms, disorganized and unable to come up with a coherent message. Komen's founder is portrayed as out of touch and not really in control. The author is clearly out of her league and should have stayed in local politics. No matter which side of the debate you are on as to whether Komen should have been founding Planned Parenthood their strategy, decision making and inability to deal with the issue effectively make me question how well the organization will function in the future. To those breast cancer patients hoping for progress or a cure that is a real shame.

12 of 20 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Ironically, They Were Made For Each Other October 5, 2012

By Robin Orlowski

Format:Kindle Edition

Handel's great at corporate spin. After voluntarily assuming an executive vice presidency, she pretends that she had no direction in subsequent policy making. Somehow everybody else just ordered her to take the position--and required her to withdraw funding from community organizations assisting with the provision of breast cancer services to low-income women

Huh?? This is where the public outrage over her hire began. And she does not understand that the foundation's mission was supposed to provide breast cancer services to women, period. I'm left scratching my head because this woman is no political newbee. Prior positions included President/CEO of the Greater Fulton Chamber of Commerce, Policy advisor to Georgia Governor Sonny Purdue, and Georgia Secretary of State. She was supposed to have come in already knowing how the public sector works.

But she never comprehends that money from any foundation only goes to a very specific project. Or the profound ramifications withdrawing the foundation money ultimately did create--until it cost her job--and the organization's once-stellar image. Komen's top public health official, who had been aware of the impact this would create, immediately resigned when the policy was first implemented.

Fundraising to the Komen Foundation dropped because masses of women now believed it was not concerned with their health. It was playing politics with their lives. So they donated directly to other organizations which were providing the cancer screening services.

This book does not have me coming away feeling sorry for her. It has me concerned that the Komen Foundation threw away their long-standing image on somebody lacking political-financial savvy. The national affiliate and smaller organizations faced economic impact because of a grassroots boycott specifically in response to Handel's decision. Even concerns about 'pink washing' did not generate the same public backkash as her directive.

And while we can debate over what percentage of funds goes to actual breast cancer services/research, the resulting lack of incoming funds from this policy did damage the organization. Komen should have done more careful screening of prospective hirees, including what the hirees were trying to accomplish and how they would accomplish the goal(s). A little foresight helps the organization both with policy and image.

This book would be a good read for case studies in what NOT to do for non-profit management.