Breaking news: IRS grants nonprofit status to pro-life group; drops Planned Parenthood demands
I wrote July 8 that the IRS was refusing to grant nonprofit status to the Coalition for Life of Iowa unless the group and individual members of the group pledged not to picket the local Planned Parenthood.
Just received this press release:
Yesterday attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a national public interest law firm based in Chicago, finally received an official “Determination Letter” from the Internal Revenue Service granting tax exempt status to the Coalition for Life of Iowa, a newly formed grass roots pro-life citizen group based in Cedar Rapids….
The IRS had long delayed approval of the Coalition’s request for the exemption, pressing it for “details” about the content of its members’ prayers at a Planned Parenthood abortion facility and demanding that it refrain from activities at PP that could be construed as protesting or picketing by police or harassing or being confrontational with abortion-bound clients. IRS also demanded that every member of the board of directors of the Coalition sign a statement, under penalty of perjury, that they will not picket or protest or organize others to picket or protest outside of PP.
Last month the Coalition asked TMS for help, and the Society retained non-profit law and tax specialist, Sally Wagenmaker, of… Mosher & Associates, to assist with the case. Wagenmaker wrote IRS a lengthy recital of legal objections to its inquiries and demands (posted at thomasmoresociety.org), threatening legal action if the IRS persisted in violating the Coalition’s First Amendment rights. Soon thereafter, the IRS quietly advised the Coalition that it would receive its tax exemption, and now the IRS’s official Determination Letter has just arrived, albeit dated as of July 9, 2009.
Oh, brother, IRS snits.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
The IRS? 1930’s Germany had a similar organization, the SA… commonly known as the Brownshirts.
I went to the Thomas More website and read the letter Mosher sent to the IRS. It’s great, they quoted them chapter and verse of laws, cases, and precedent and basically said if you don’t issue the permit we will seek all avenues of redress. Got the IRS off the dime, but quick.
The readers of this blog need to get a clue. To claim that the IRS are fascist brownshirts is to be ignorant of history. Does this mean that every democracy that collects taxes is fascist?
There are conditions attached to federal non-profit status. One of the conditions is that the organization refrain from harassing or interfering with another non-profits activities. Picketing is fine, but blocking entry to a clinic or committing vandalism is not.
Most non-profits take jabs at rival groups by having their PR / communications department distribute press releases criticizing the other group. PPFA does that all the time – check their news releases.
There are conditions attached to federal non-profit status. One of the conditions is that the organization refrain from harassing or interfering with another non-profits activities. Picketing is fine, but blocking entry to a clinic or committing vandalism is not.
Posted by: Dhalgren at August 6, 2009 8:34 AM
What about the trash activites at ACORN?
OK, Dahlgren, answere me this. The letter from Mosher went out July 2, on July 9 the requested exemption was granted. Yet, previously to this the IRS had been dilly dallying and asking all kinds of questions that were in effect, illegal for them to even ask. The original application, as Mosher pointed out, was sufficient to grant them 501c status.
Dahlgren, I suggest you read up on this before you post again, really, you don’t know what you’re talking about. And for the record, all the documents (from the IRS and to the IRS) are at the More website.
Look and read and then maybe you’ll modify your comments and thinking.
Correction
IRSS
Internal Revenue secret service.
I am a farm kid. We have a bull and our neighbor asked if he could service their cows. What service does the internal Revenue provide?