Outcry Grows Fiercer After Funding Cut by Cancer Group The nation’s leading breast cancer advocacy organization confronted the growing furor Thursday over its decision to largely end its decades-long partnership with Planned Parenthood, with rising dissension in its own ranks and a roiling anger on the Internet showing the power of social media to harness protest. air max bw classic Enlarge This Image Callie Richmond for The Texas Tribune Cecile Richards, the president of Planned Parenthood. Related The Lede Blog: Top Komen Official Resigned in Protest Over Planned Parenthood Cuts (February 2, 2012) City Room: Mayor to Give $250,000 to Planned Parenthood (February 2, 2012) Uproar as Breast Cancer Group Ends Partnership With Planned Parenthood (February 2, 2012) Cancer Group Halts Financing to Planned Parenthood (February 1, 2012) Related in Opinionair max bw classic Editorial: A Painful Betrayal (February 3, 2012) Connect With Us on Twitter Follow @NYTNational for breaking news and headlines. Twitter List: Reporters and Editors Readers’ Comments Share your thoughts. Post a Comment ? Read All Comments (503) ? All seven California affiliates of the organization, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation, released a statement saying they opposed its decision. Twenty-six senators urged the foundation to reconsider its decision. And a pledge of $250,000 from Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York helped Planned Parenthood, which provides family planning and abortion services in hundreds of clinics across the country, to more than make up the money it lost. ugg boots pas cher “Politics have no place in health care,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement, an echo of the complaints voiced by many women elsewhere. “Breast cancer screening saves lives, and hundreds of thousands of women rely on Planned Parenthood for access to care.” ugg boots pas cher The deluge of criticism Komen faced on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr came two weeks after online protests led Congress to suspend an effort to pass anti-piracy legislation that some in the Internet community saw as a threat to online freedoms. It demonstrated again how social media can change the national conversation with head-snapping speed. ugg boots pas cher The furious debate is also a sign of the intense polarization of the nation’s politics in a campaign season during which Planned Parenthood, led by Cecile Richards, has become a lightning rod for attacks from Republican presidential candidates. tn requin Komen’s founder and chief executive, Nancy G. Brinker, held a news conference Thursday and insisted that the organization’s decision had nothing to do with abortion or politics. Rather, she said, it resulted from improved grant-making procedures and was not intended to make a target of Planned Parenthood. “We think this is the right thing to do from a stewardships standpoint,” Ms. Brinker said. tn requin Her comments directly contradicted those of John D. Raffaelli, a Komen board member and Washington lobbyist, who told The New York Times on Wednesday that Komen made the changes to its grant-making process specifically to end its relationship with Planned Parenthood. Mr. Raffaelli said that Komen had become increasingly worried that an investigation of Planned Parenthood by Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, would damage Komen’s credibility with donors. Komen gave Planned Parenthood $700,000 last year — a tiny portion of its $93 million in grants — to finance 19 separate programs. A growing number of religious organizations had become concerned that donations to Komen would benefit Planned Parenthood and had advised members not to give to Komen. Rather than risk offending some donors with a relatively small portfolio of grants, Komen decided to largely cut off Planned Parenthood, Mr. Raffaelli said.