The Stream - Thursday August 25, 2016
by Dustin Siggins
Liberal billionaire George Soros is one of the left's biggest funders. And according to new documents provided by the group DCLeaks, one of his foundations sent $1.5 million to help Planned Parenthood fight allegations it was illegally profiting from harvesting fetal body parts from abortions.
Last July, The Center for Medical Progress began releasing undercover videos that exposed Planned Parenthood’s activities. The abortion mill launched a budget-blowing PR frenzy, and they needed funds to continue their pushback.
As originally reported by The Washington Free Beacon, Soros' Open Society Policy Center (OSPC) requested $1.5 million to help Planned Parenthood's "Fight Back Campaign." According to the request, "in the several weeks" since the undercover videos exposing the harvesting were released in July of last week, Planned Parenthood used up nearly all of its lobbying resources..."
...[I]ts greatest need for the campaign outlined above is an immediate infusion of c4 funding. Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood, has recently secured a commitment for $2 million in c3 funds, with strong prospects for more on the c3 side. Funding for lobbying activities, however, is much harder to come by, so OSPC is uniquely situated to provide a critical resources PP will have a hard time finding anywhere else.
501(c)3 organizations are nonprofits that are not allowed to engage in officially political work. 501(c)4 organizations are allowed to endorse candidates, lobby for legislation and otherwise engage politically. Like many organizations, Planned Parenthood has both.
Media Research Center reporter Katie Yoder confirmed that OSPC received its requested funding. She reported that "[i]n a Sept. 23, 2015 memo to Soros' U.S. Programs (USP) Advisory Board (also under the umbrella of OSF), Ken Zimmerman (USP Director) and Andrea Batista Schlesinger (USP Deputy Director)" said that OSPC "’supported' Planned Parenthood" with the requested funds.
OSPC also funded efforts to convince U.S. Catholic Bishops to highlight looser immigration policies and environmental priorities instead of marriage and abortion during Pope Francis's 2015 visit to America. As reported by LifeSiteNews's John-Henry Westen, documents revealed in the DCLeaks hack showed $650,000 was given to two liberal social justice groups, PICO and Faith in Public Life.
The money was used to "[f]orm partnerships with the AFL, SEIU, and 11 faith groups during the September events in order to mobilize 10,000 people to public action and train 3,500 others as messengers of Pope Francis' economic and racial justice agenda," among other efforts. One of those other goals was to gain "[b]uy-in of individual bishops to more publicly voice support of economic and racial justice messages in order to begin to create a critical mass of bishops who are aligned with the Pope."
The group is also trying to undermine and overturn pro-life laws internationally, according to more documents. The pro-life country of Ireland is a top target.
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