Ohio Abortion Extremists Launch Super PAC, and Your Tax Dollars Are Secretly Paying for It

by Scott Pullins

 

According to the August 31, 2018 edition of the Columbus Dispatch, Planned Parenthood is launching a Super PAC called Planned Parenthood Votes Ohio.  The Ohio Star reported on this PAC here.

However, if the sleuths over at the Dispatch had dug a little deeper they would have found that this PAC actually launched on December 19, 2017 and has been quietly raising big money ever since.  See a link to their original filing here.

In fact, some of the biggest chunks of money that they have raised so far, $72,175 from their nonprofit lobbying arm, most likely came from taxpayer dollars.  Let me explain:

Planned Parenthood in Ohio is organized into two separate nonprofit, charitable organizations that together run 26 local health centers.  Planned Parenthood is forbidden under Ohio law from using taxpayer dollars to fund abortions.

However, they do use taxpayer dollars to help fund other healthcare services for women to the tune of $1.5 million per year.  The Ohio General Assembly has passed legislation to strip all taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood, but that issue is currently before the full Federal Court of Appeals.

Because of their tax status these charitable organizations are forbidden from being involved directly in politics.  That’s why these groups set up a separate nonprofit lobbying affiliate, Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio.  Planned Parenthood Advocates of Ohio can receive some funding from their charitable parent organizations and can spend some money on politics.

In fact, according to their most recent IRS 990 tax return, they spent almost a quarter of a million dollars on the 2016 elections.  Coincidently, according to that same tax return, their lobbying arm received a whopping $408,000 from their charitable parent organizations.

Even worse, this lobbying organization, which is at least indirectly funded by taxpayers, then sets up a Super PAC, which can raise and spend unlimited amounts on politics.  According to a financial summary from the Federal Elections Commission, they have so far raised nearly $400,000 and have nearly $350,000 cash on hand.  A spokesperson for the group told the Columbus Dispatch that they hoped to raise as much as $1.5 million for what it is calling their “largest electoral plan in history.”

And where will this money be spent?  Right here in Ohio on behalf of liberal Democrats like abortion extremist Aftab Pureval.  As The Ohio Star previously reported, Aftab’s congressional campaign received a maximum donation from notorious partial-birth abortion provider Martin Haskell.

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Scott Pullins is an attorney and regular contributor to The Ohio Star.

 

 

 

 

 

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