Tuesday, June 11, 2013

More IRS Attacks on Pro-Life Groups

Yesterday's LifeSiteNews has a recording of a conversation that took place on March 8, 2012, between Ania Joseph, the president of Pro-Life Revolution, a group that ministers to women in crisis pregnancies, and IRS Exempt Organization Specialist Sherry Wan. Pro-Life Revolution was in the process of applying for 501 (c) (3) tax exempt status. This is an IRS Agent talking:

"You can’t take all kinds of confrontation activities and also put something on a website and ask people to take action against the abortion clinic," she said. "That’s not, that’s not really educational."

“You reach out to woman, [sic] you can’t do that,” Wan says at another point, adding, “You cannot force your religion or force your beliefs on somebody else.”

"You have the right to do, your religion told you what’s right. You have a right to, you know, outreach to other people," Wan explains. "But meanwhile, you have to know your boundaries. You have to know your limits. You have to respect other people’s beliefs. You have somebody else come to your door and know you don’t like them. When they come to you, how do you feel?"


This is not surprising to us in the least. It is part of the totalitarian pattern with which we have all become familiar: Democratic politicians and bureaucrats abusing their power for partisan aims. We described one such attack in our June 7 post about California's Senate Bill 131. (That post was picked up yesterday by California Catholic Daily.) That's what happened with Walter Hoye being sent to jail for peacefully protesting outside an abortion business (the conviction was overturned, but Walter spent 20-some days in prison); that's what's happening with the denial of First Amendment rights to crisis pregnancy centers like First Resort and the Alpha Pregnancy Center in San Francisco. That's what's happening with the IRS all over the country. 

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