Pro-lifers question tax status of Planned Parenthood after DNC

Pro-life organization 40 Days for Life last week wrote to the Internal Revenue Service that Planned Parenthood may have violated the terms of its tax-exempt status. The abortion provider may have violated its 501(c)(3) status by engaging in partisan political activity at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, 40 Days for Life wrote. Planned Parenthood Great Rivers and Planned Parenthood Great Rivers - IL last week deployed a mobile clinic to the convention where the groups said it performed nine free vasectomies, gave eight women abortion drugs at no cost, and gave out free emergency contraception.

What is the legal issue at the center of the complaint? According to the IRS, 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organizations are prohibited from “directly or indirectly participating in, or intervening in, any political campaign on behalf of any candidate for elective public office.” Churches and other religious, charitable or educational organizations with the designation are not allowed to endorse political candidates. 40 Days for Life claims that the group directly endorsed the Democratic Party by advertising on its website the free services it offered at the convention. Planned Parenthood’s actions fall outside of permissible lobbying activities in which nonprofit organizations are allowed to engage, 40 Days for Life said.

A 501(c)4 organization, Advocates of Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, typically engages in lobbying efforts, according to Planned Parenthood Great Rivers’ 2022-2023 report.

How did pro-life groups respond to the abortion van? Democrats for Life on Thursday ran a diaper drive for families in the Chicago area. Meanwhile, pro-life diaper company EveryLife partnered with Sidewalk Advocates for Life and ThriVe Nation to offer a lifetime supply of diapers to pregnant women who chose life instead of abortion. ThriVe Nation’s life-affirming medical unit was parked outside the DNC to provide free ultrasounds and Sidewalk Advocates prayed with passersby and shared about life and family. Members from Americans United for Life also met outside the convention and wrote on social media that the Planned Parenthood mobile unit was not as busy as the organization claimed.

Dig deeper: Read Brad Littlejohn’s column in WORLD Opinions about how pro-lifers must first change American culture before changing the country’s abortion policies.