MADISON, Wis. -- A small but critical Dane County agency that fights domestic abuse has gotten caught up in the debate over medical research on animals.

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The issue came to light after feminist icon Gloria Steinem threatened to pull out of the agency's biggest fundraiser because of a major sponsor. Covance Labs was helping sponsor the Domestic Abuse Intervention Services fundraiser.

Now, the nonprofit agency and medical research company have mutually parted ways because of the attention, WISC-TV reported.

"We've moved forward and dealt with the conflict as it came up," said agency Executive Director Shannon Barry. "We've moved forward and I think we tried to meet everyone's needs that we could."

Covance Labs Inc. is a world leader in drug development. Compay officials said that it wasn't asked to withdraw its sponsorship of the event.

"We voluntarily decided not to attend the luncheon tomorrow (Tuesday) in order to keep the attention where it should be -- on the cause of domestic abuse," said Covance Marketing Vice President Susan LaBelle.

Covance officials said that it is ironic that Steinem, who is a cancer survivor, is upset with its company, since a lot of its work benefits people like her.

In the meantime, the Alliance for Animals, who alerted Steinem to the Covance sponsorship, is trying to capitalize on the situation. It issued a news release citing "Covance's cruelty to animals," WISC-TV reported.

Domestic Abuse Intervention Services said it's just caught between what it calls two amazing supporters. Officials there said that they hope their message about abuse doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

Editor's Note: The previous version of this story contained erroneous information. The story said that Gloria Steinhem was going to back out of the fundraiser. This is inaccurate. She had apparently only threatened to back out. Channel 3000 regrets this error.