Executives of the Susan G. Komen Foundation offered contradictory statements Thursday for their decision to halt grants to Planned Parenthood, but they failed to quell a rising controversy over abortion politics that led several of the organization’s affiliates to openly rebel.

People in the Treasure Valley haven’t been shy about weighing in on the charity’s decision to pull the plug on breast cancer screening grants to Planned Parenthood.

“We’ve heard from both sides,” said Jennifer Poole, mission manager for the Boise affiliate.

A few people called just to clear up confusion about the brouhaha. About two-thirds of callers voiced their opposition to the move, Poole said. Some have said they won’t support Komen for the Cure anymore.

“It’s disappointing, but we certainly understand if people don’t feel comfortable. What can you do?” Poole said.

Komen officials had said the decision was the result of newly adopted criteria barring grants to organizations under investigation — and that’s what Poole told the Idaho Statesman on Thursday. Planned Parenthood was affected because of an inquiry by a Republican congressman.

But Komen President Elizabeth Thompson told reporters Thursday that the funding decision was unrelated to the investigation into whether Planned Parenthood was illegally using federal funds to pay for abortions.

Komen founder Nancy Brinker said the organization wants to support groups that directly provide breast health services, such as mammograms. She noted that Planned Parenthood was providing only mammogram referrals.

PREVIOUSLY APOLITICAL

The controversy has thrust Komen, seen for years as a largely apolitical fundraising phenomenon whose pink ribbons and events “for the cure” are among the best known symbols in public health, into the center of the national debate over abortion.

Brinker said that the decision was not influenced by pressure from anti-abortion groups, as Planned Parenthood has contended, and that others had “mischaracterized” Komen’s new policies. “This has been a contentious issue and one where the essence of our organization’s position has been lost,” she said.

Twenty-six senators wrote a letter to Brinker on Thursday, urging the foundation to reconsider its decision. One of the signers, Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said the latest justification for defunding Planned Parenthood was tantamount to “revisionist history.”

“This new reason is so obviously fake that you’d have to be born today to believe it,” she said. “They know they have hit a raw nerve with the American people here. They have thrust themselves in the middle of a political witch hunt, aligning themselves with the most right-wing forces ... and they are hurting because of it. So now they are changing their tune.”

There were also signs of support for the move. Americans United for Life, the anti-abortion group that pushed for the congressional investigation of Planned Parenthood, hailed the Komen decision.

“As a breast cancer survivor, I was always troubled with this whole idea that the nation’s largest abortion provider was enmeshed in the breast cancer fight when they weren’t actually doing mammograms,” said the group’s president, Charmaine Yoest. “I look at this as smart stewardship.”

Meanwhile, Komen executives said donations were up “100 percent,” but executives declined to provide specifics.

BIG SUPPORT IN IDAHO

The Treasure Valley has been extremely supportive of Komen for the Cure.

More than 16,000 people participated in the 13th annual Komen Boise Race for the Cure May 7. The event and related efforts raised more than $500,000.

Poole said any Idaho women who come to Planned Parenthood who need a mammogram still will be connected to Komen for the Cure to receive help with the costs.

“There should be no interruption of service to women in Idaho,” she said. “We’re continuing to partner with (Planned Parenthood). We’re just not funding them.”

Planned Parenthood also reported an outpouring of support, with $650,000 in contributions in 24 hours after Komen’s announcement. Of those, $400,000 came from more than 6,000 online donors and $250,000 from the foundation of a Dallas couple. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said he would donate $1 for every new dollar Planned Parenthood raises, up to $250,000.

The seven Komen affiliates in California issued a statement Thursday saying they were “strongly opposed to Komen National’s new grant-making policy,” which they called “a misstep.”

Komen’s San Diego affiliate increased its security after receiving threatening emails, even though it does not fund its local Planned Parenthood. Executive Director Laura Farmer Sherman said she personally received nearly 400 emails on the subject, two in favor of the new policy and 386 against it.

She said she has lost two sponsors for its Race for the Cure next fall.

“The sad thing about this is it’s detracted from what our real mission is, which is the same as Planned Parenthood, which is to save women’s lives,” she said.

RECONSIDERING INVITATION

The decision has prompted some groups to reconsider or drop their affiliation with Komen, and others are praising Komen for its stance.

A Yale University spokesman said the School of Public Health is reviewing its decision to have Brinker speak at this year’s commencement. In an email to students Thursday, Dean Paul Cleary said he had received “a great deal of input.”

Komen board member John Raffaelli said the board voted unanimously in October to change its grant-making criteria, including adding a rule that bars grants to organizations under investigation. During that discussion, Thompson “forewarned us that it would mean Planned Parenthood would get hit by this,” Raffaelli said.

“It was nothing they were doing wrong,” Brinker said of Planned Parenthood. “We have decided not to fund, wherever possible, pass-through grants. We were giving them money; they were sending women out for mammograms. What we would like to have are clinics where we can directly fund mammograms.”

Last year, Komen gave Planned Parenthood grants totaling $680,000.

In the past year, Americans United for Life has aggressively pushed Congress to end Planned Parenthood’s federal funding. It has also drafted model legislation that states can use to bar abortion providers from receiving federal funds; nine states have passed such laws, although the Obama administration has blocked their implementation.

Yoest says the anti-abortion community is exploring ways to support Komen.

Statesman reporter Katy Moeller contributed to this report.