WICHITA, Kan. — The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has revoked the tax exemption of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue West, which two years ago said it wanted to sink Sen. John Kerry’s bid for the White House. While the IRS does not provide information on its reasons for revoking a tax exemption, the group Catholics for a Free Choice filed a complaint against Operation Rescue West in 2004, accusing the anti-abortion group of electioneering.
During the Democratic Party’s convention in 2004, Operation Rescue West placed an ad in The Wanderer, a conservative Catholic weekly, that asked readers to offer tax-deductible donations to help “defeat [Kerry] in November and enable President George W. Bush to appoint a pro-life Supreme Court justice.” Nonprofit organizations such as Operation Rescue West, which was also known as Youth Ministries Inc., are tax-exempt as long as they do not advocate for the election of particular political candidates.
Operation Rescue West has reorganized and is now simply Operation Rescue, Cheryl Sullenger, the group’s outreach coordinator, told The New York Times.
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