Exclusive: Anti-abortion group may have violated tax code
Published: September 15, 2009
Updated 5 months ago
‘Obama to elderly: die,’ nonprofit says
A tax-exempt Catholic pro-life group’s lobbying against President Barack Obama’s health care reform legislation may be in violation of its 501(c)(3) status.
The American Life League (ALL) is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt organization which claims to be the “largest grassroots Catholic pro-life education organization in the United States.” During a Sept. 12, 2009 rally in Washington, D.C. sponsored by right-wing lobbyists, the health-care industry and other partisan groups, numerous protesters carried a sign which said “Bury Obamacare with Kennedy.” The ALL logo can be plainly seen at the bottom right-hand corner of the sign.
ALL as an anti-abortion lobbying group
As a 501(c)(3) educational organization, ALL is prohibited from direct involvement in political campaigns and is sharply limited in the extent to which it can lobby for or against legislation. According to the IRS:
In general, no organization may qualify for section 501(c)(3) status if a substantial part of its activities is attempting to influence legislation (commonly known as lobbying). A 501(c)(3) organization may engage in some lobbying, but too much lobbying activity risks loss of tax-exempt status.
The American Life League acknowledges the prohibition against political activity on its website but describes it only in terms of direct support of or opposition to political candidates.
“American Life League is a tax-exempt organization under IRC 501(c )(3) federal law 26USC 501(c)(3),” the group says on their website. “As such, we are absolutely prohibited from engaging in ‘political activity.’ Violation of the laws and associated regulations can result in fines and loss of tax-exempt status. In general, ‘political activity’ is defined as participating in, or intervening in any political campaign on behalf of (or in opposition to) any candidate for public office. This definition includes the publication or distribution of statements.”
“Our policy and practice is, and always has been, to comply with the law and its prohibition from engaging in political activity,” the group adds.
It is unclear whether the distribution of the signs would be considered a legitimate lobbying activity by the IRS. Bruce Friedland, an IRS spokesperson, told RAW STORY he could not comment on any specific organization.
The activities of the group seem to be entirely geared towards “attempting to influence legislation,” which would be a violation of IRS guidelines. ALL devotes most of its energies to campaigning against abortion and contraception, along with publishing anti-abortion materials and selling anti-abortion clothing and jewelry.
Despite this activity, ALL’s tax returns for 2006 and 2007 showed a figure of only $80,000 devoted to lobbying out of a budget of several million dollars. ALL did not respond to requests for comment for this article.
FreedomWorks and the Sept. 12 rally
The rally at which the ALL signs were distributed drew tens of thousands of people from around the country to oppose health care reform. The main sponsor of the rally was FreedomWorks, a partisan astroturf group headed by former Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey.
Last April, even before that month’s tea party protests, FreedomWorks grassroots organizer Brendan Steinhauser posted at the group’s website, “I have secured a permit for the West Front of the United States Capitol for a taxpayer tea party on Saturday, September 12th, 2009. … FreedomWorks is inviting everyone to join us on Saturday, 9-12-2009 to protest at the U.S. Capitol Building.”
The website announced in that post, 912dc.org, prominently lists FreedomWorks as its National Sponsor.
FreedomWorks was formed in 2004 by the merger of Armey’s corporate-funded Citizens for a Sound Economy, which had helped defeat President Clinton’s health reform proposals in 1993-94, with another conservative Republican advocacy group. It initially gained notice in 2005 for its extensive involvement in then-President Bush’s attempts to privatize Social Security, using methods that included busing its members to attend town hall meetings on the issue and attempting to pass them off as ordinary citizens.
Last spring, FreedomWorks was identified as a primary backer of the anti-tax “tea party” protests. By early summer, it was rallying its supporters to oppose health care reform and suggesting that they attend Congressional town hall meetings and “send shock waves back to Washington.”
When asked by the website WhoRunsGov to comment on the signs, a spokesperson for FreedomWorks cited an inflated estimate of the crowd at the 9-12 protest to justify the tasteless slogan.
“The march on Washington exceeded our expectations ten fold,” Adam Brandon
wrote. “In a crowd of people of this magnitude passionate in opposition to generational sized issues such as cap and trade and a massive government expansion into health care, folks are going to make signs with messages to get attention and assert their point of view. This should prove to the critics who claim the march was orcestrated astroturf that attendence was genuinely grassroots, and not scripted or focused grouped.”
Obama speaks tonight, Christ Speaks Always
In another example of apparent lobbying activity, ALL ran an ad campaign in which they implied that supporting Obama’s health care reform is going against Christ.
OBAMA SPEAKS TONIGHT. CHRIST SPEAKS ALWAYS. The road to hell is paved with good intentions; the road to health care reform should be paved with Christ-centered principles, not Obama-centered. Please encourage your bishop to stand firm on Christ’s principles, the very same principles they endorse in the USCCB’s Ethical and Religious Directives for Catholic Health Care Services.
The actual ad can be downloaded here (PDF).
Judie Brown, President of ALL, penned an op-ed for LifeSiteNews.com in which she again attacked Obama, while describing the funeral of the late Massachusetts Senator, Edward Kennedy as a “travesty.”
“The entire travesty, from the television cameras to spectacle itself, goes beyond anything I have witnessed in my more than 65 years of life,” Brown wrote. “In fact, while we all thought the appearance of President Barack Obama at the University of Notre Dame was a scandal, the very idea that he offered a eulogy in a basilica, while the real presence of Christ was in the tabernacle, is perhaps the most dastardly thing I have ever seen.
“America witnessed this nation’s most avid supporter of abortion on demand, standing in a Catholic basilica, during the Mass, speaking of a fellow pro-abort in glowing terms!” Brown continued. “That alone is such an insult to Christ that words simply cannot express my sorrow. Yet a greater source of sadness is that the Cardinal Sean O’Malley, of the Archdiocese of Boston, looked on as though insulting Christ Himself were an everyday occurrence.”
Not-for-profit based education or partisan propaganda?
Following is a list of additional examples of how the ALL has used its tax-exempt status to campaign against both President Obama and his political initiatives.
June 26, 2009 – “Obama to elderly – Die”
May 27, 2009 – “The Pill Kills Women’: Nationwide Protests to Expose Obama’s Health Care Plan”
Apr. 8, 2009 – “Notre Dame Obama Scandal: Remove School from Catholic Directory”
Jan. 15, 2009 – “Krispy Kreme Celebrates Obama with Pro-Abortion Doughnuts”
Muriel Kane contributed research for this article.
21 comments
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Soon you need an encyclopedia to keep up with all the batshit crazy organizations that oppose Obama simply for being Obama.
What else do you expect from an organization attached to a church that is headed by a man who personally swore allegiance to Adolph Hitler? Herr Benedict, indeed, swore just such an oath twice. The Catholic church’s opposition to abortion is a continuation of Nazi policy. Hitler’s Germany strongly outlawed abortion calling it, ironically, ‘genocide’. Against this background it is no wonder that this Catholic organization calls for the burying of a non-white president.
“campaigning against abortion and contraception”
I still can’t get over that supposedly rational people don’t realize that the best (only) way to prevent abortions is to have effective contraception. You can’t have it both ways. Either you are going to have effective contraception to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, or you are going to have abortions to terminate unwanted pregnancies. It is that simple. To argue otherwise is ludicrous.
For some stuffed shirt to get up their and pontificate about the “sanctity of marriage,” or whatever it is they pontificate about, is totally beside the point and they know it. It all comes down to unwanted pregnancies are much more likely to be terminated by an abortion than a planned, on purpose pregnancy.
“It is that simple. To argue otherwise is ludicrous. ”
No, it’s not simple because you’re not arguing the point they are. They don’t think you should be having sex at all, unless you’re intentionally making a baby. You’re arguing that if you’re going to have sex for fun, contraception is the way to prevent abortion.. Apples and Oranges.
their sky fairy told them sex is dirty and evil.. and should only be done to make the miracle of life happen to bring another of the sky fairy’s children into the world. Not that there’s a conflict of interest in that idea (you must become dirty to praise me and do my bidding!)..
You can’t have a reasonable conversation with fundamentalists.. because they aren’t reasonable rational people.
If they mention a candidate directly, they are clearly “campaigning against a candidate”. Period.
They should be shut down.
Uh, not very Christ-like is it? Opposing health care for all?
Aren’t Christain’s supposed to model their compassionate behavior after the Son of God? I’d love to hear the pulpit rationale for this one.
Matthew 8:5-13
Christ heals the Centurion’s boyfriend after being convinced of their love. It’s so sweet. Nice story.
What’s up with these “kill obamacare” folks? Wandered from the flock?
I’ll bet the members of this group call themselves “pro-life.” What a crock.
Hell yes revoke their status. File the complaint NOW.
this is an issue crucial to regaining a representative democracy, how to nail these abusive “religious” tax exemptions. this provision has become nothing but a super conduit for the religious extremists. the american taxpayer is subsidizing their propaganda and their training programs at the same time they decry “government”, and work overtime to make it a theocracy.
and talk about lost revenue !
these people should have to have bake sales if they want to raise funds to strip the citizenry of the right of individual choice, while they suffocate the freedom to choose our own destiny.
How about: “BURY YOUR ASS WITH GRAMPS.” Since you will not have any money for your own “plot”, you can jack your deceased relatives and share the grave. You probably couldn’t scratch a friend to even do the diggin’.
And next, go after the “spook in the sky” buildings and tax them till they bow to Caesar.
“direct support of or opposition to political candidates.”
“Bury Obamacare”
Yeah, seems like there’s some opposition to Obama going on there.
Of course if it was ACORN doing something like that, you know Fox would be running with the story 24/7. And Palin would already have another Facebook posting with accompanying Tweet.
take away their tax free status and make them pay taxes. While you are at it, take away tax free status from all churches and church related groups - that will give us true separation of church and state. Why do they have tax free statue anyway??? They use the commons (roadways, water, sewage, etc.) just the same as the rest of us. They should have to pay their fare share too.
I think the radical right is correct: keep the gubmint outta their lives. Start by taking away their tax exemption and audit the bejeezes out of them.
Selectively edit comments much TRS? Or just entire threads?