The breast-cancer charity, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Foundation, announced this week that it will stop giving money to Planned Parenthood Centers for such services as manual breast exams, referrals for mammograms and biopsies to check for cancer. Planned Parenthood, of course, is where many women go for health care at some 800 health centers across the United States. It's all some women can afford.

Because some 170,000 breast exams and 6,400 of the mammogram referrals provided by Planned Parenthood were paid for with $680,000 from Komen in 2010, this decision will mean fewer women will receive the health care they need. The reason given for cutting off money? Planned Parenthood is the subject of a Republican congressman's investigation into whether the organization uses public money for abortions, which would be against federal law. Recently, Komen for the Cure adopted criteria that stops it from giving money to any group under government investigation. Many believe, though, that the real reason for severing ties is because of lobbying behind-the-scenes by anti-abortion groups -- Planned Parenthood, in addition to providing health care and reproductive care for women, also does provide abortions (only about 3 percent of its services). What's more, a new Komen senior vice president, Karen Handel, advocated to defund Planned Parenthood during a failed run for Georgia governor in 2010.

The decision is not sitting well with many in the public -- Twitter nearly collapsed with the reaction Tuesday evening. To critics of this decision, women's health is being threatened. Even if Komen officials don't change their minds, the net effect could be a backlash against what has been the best-known charity fighting breast cancer. In the meantime, Planned Parenthood is beginning an emergency fund to replace the canceled grants so that women, who still can, receive the care they need. In the first 24 hours after the news broke, Planned Parenthood raised $650,000 online. Others, of course, believe that money taken from Planned Parenthood is a good thing; the separation of its abortion services from health care is not enough for the organization's detractors.

A difference of opinion this public and a debate this heated means that we will be able to see the fight play out in the weeks ahead. More money for Planned Parenthood? Less money for Komen? Donors will decide, pocketbooks in hand. What's important, though, is health care for women who need it. And whether they are finding cancer at a Planned Parenthood office or at a health clinic or at a private practice, women deserve better than to lose needed care over politics.