UPDATE: Komen for the Cure Reverses Position on Planned Parenthood

The Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation reversedits position Friday on its decision to stop funding grants to Planned Parenthood. 

In a statement released on its website, the organization apologized to the public, and said the organization's leaders were "distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons."

Our original desire was to fulfill our fiduciary duty to our donors by not funding grant applications made by organizations under investigation. We will amend the criteria to make clear that disqualifying investigations must be criminal and conclusive in nature and not political. That is what is right and fair.

We do not want our mission marred or affected by politics – anyone’s politics.

The reversal followed days of outrage by women and their political supporters after the the Associated Press broke the news that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation will stop providing grants to Planned Parenthood, citing an inquiry launched by Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., who was looking into whether public money was spent on abortions. 

The grants to Planned Parenthood totaled about $700,000 and were used for breast-cancer screening and related services. In a statement on its website, Planned Parenthood expressed "deep disappointment" about the action and said the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation appears to have succumbed to political pressure.

A fund to continue providing the breast cancer services was immediately established at Planned Parenthood with a $250,000 gift from the Amy and Lee Fikes' foundation, according to a statement published by Planned Parenthood.

Other donations flowed in as well. NPR reported that politicians across the country, in particular, took a stand on the issue:

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, for one, pledged up to $250,000 of his personal fortune to the organization, putting it well on its way to making up the $680,000 it had been getting from Komen. That's in addition to more than $400,000 Planned Parenthood says it racked up in the first day after the funding cutoff was made public.

And more than two dozen U.S. senators, led by Democrats Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey and Patty Murray of Washington state, wrote a letter to Komen CEO Nancy Brinker on Thursday, urging her to reconsider the group's decision.

In the meantime, pro-life groups said the decision showed that political pressure over the debate on abotion is increasing. 

Stearns reacted positively to the news of the original decision to stop the grants. In a statement to the Wall Street Journal, he said Planned Parenthood is the nation's largest abortion provider.

In Pittsburgh, the news changes little for the Planned Parenthood organization. Kathy Purcell, executive director of the Komen's Pittsburgh branch told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review that such grants were not given out here.

How do you feel about this news? Does this change how you feel about the Susan G. Komen for the Cure organization? Tell us in the comments.