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Wisconsin Right to Life
| Wisconsin Right to Life | |
 | |
| Basic facts | |
| Location: | Milwaukee, Wis. |
| Type: | 501(c)(4) |
| Top official: | Heather Weininger, Executive Director |
| Website: | Official website |
| Budget | |
| 2013: | $399,377 |
Wisconsin Right to Life (WRTL) is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization and the Wisconsin state affiliate of National Right to Life. Through advocacy, outreach, education and litigation, the organization opposes abortion and assisted suicide in Wisconsin and supports alternatives to these practices.[1][2]
Mission
Wisconsin Right to Life has the following mission:[1]
| “ |
To make euthanasia, infanticide, abortion and destruction of human embryos socially, ethically and legally unacceptable solutions to human problems and to promote positive alternatives to each of these acts.[3] |
” |
Policy scope
The organization’s legislative agenda has two main components: opposition to the legalization of assisted suicide and support for the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act.[4] On July 20, 2015, Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker signed this bill into law, banning abortions after 20 weeks from fertilization except when the life of the mother is in immediate danger.[5]
Work
Wisconsin Right to Life carries out its mission in several different ways. It conducts public education through television and internet ads and performs teenage and college outreach through events, summer camps and campus chapters. It also participates in electoral activities, informing voters about the policy positions of candidates through ads, phone calls, emails, text messages and other means. Finally, WRTL advances its legislative agenda in Wisconsin and elsewhere and participates in litigation pertaining to right to life and freedom of speech issues.[2]
In the first half of 2015, WRTL spent $19,124.76 lobbying the Wisconsin State Legislature, according to the Wisconsin Government Accountability Board. The organization's lobbyists supported a bill placing a range of restrictions on abortions and opposed a bill permitting certain individuals to legally obtain medicine for the purpose of ending their own lives.[6] Governor Scott Walker signed that first piece of legislation, the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act, on July 20, 2015.[5]
Finances
The following is a breakdown of Wisconsin Right to Life’s revenue and expenses for the 2010-2013 tax years:
| Annual revenue and expenses for Wisconsin Right to Life, 2010-2013 | ||
|---|---|---|
| Tax Year | Total Revenue | Total Expenses |
| 2013[7] | $399,377 | $476,796 |
| 2012[7] | $581,323 | $441,713 |
| 2011[8] | $709,513 | $753,260 |
| 2010[8] | $556,771 | $583,103 |
Noteworthy events
Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life
Wisconsin Right to Life was involved in a lawsuit against the Federal Election Commission that was decided by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2007. In Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life, WRTL challenged a provision of the 2002 Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA) that prohibited corporations, including nonprofits, from funding political advertisements 60 days in advance of a general election. In 2004, WRTL ran advertisements "encouraging viewers to contact two U.S. Senators and tell them to oppose filibusters of judicial nominees." The organization intended to continue running these through the 2004 election, but the FEC believed that the ads were covered under BCRA and that airing them 60 days or less before the election would be illegal.[9]
WRTL sued the FEC, contending that BCRA was unconstitutional as applied to its advertisements. The organization argued that the FEC could not regulate its ads because they did not advocate for the election or defeat of the candidates mentioned and instead constituted issue advocacy. The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately decided 5-4 in favor of WRTL, ruling that genuine issue ads like WRTL's were constitutionally protected speech and not the domain of the FEC, which is responsible for regulating express advocacy.[9]
John Doe investigations
Two John Doe investigations, beginning in 2010 and ending in 2015, were launched by Milwaukee County District Attorney John Chisholm (D) into the activities of staff and associates of Gov. Scott Walker (R).[10] Wisconsin Right to Life was one of 29 conservative organizations that were targeted during the course of the second of two John Doe investigations in Wisconsin related to Gov. Scott Walker (R).[11][12]
Recent news
The link below is to the most recent stories in a Google news search for the terms Wisconsin Right to Life. These results are automatically generated from Google. Ballotpedia does not curate or endorse these articles.
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 WRTL, "The Mission and Vision of Wisconsin Right to Life," accessed July 28, 2015
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 WRTL, "Wisconsin Right to Life 2014 Accomplishments," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ WRTL, "Legislative Agenda," accessed July 29, 2015
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, "Scott Walker signs 20-week abortion ban, trooper pay raise," July 20, 2015
- ↑ Wisconsin Government Accountability Board, "Lobbying Principals: Wisconsin Right to Life," accessed August 6, 2015
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 GuideStar, "WRTL IRS Form 990 (2013),” accessed July 28, 2015
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 GuideStar, "WRTL IRS Form 990 (2011)," accessed July 28, 2015
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Oyez Project at Chicago-Kent College of Law, "Federal Election Commission v. Wisconsin Right to Life," accessed August 10, 2015
- ↑ United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin Milwaukee Division, "Eric O’Keefe, and Wisconsin Club for Growth, Inc.," accessed February 23, 2015
- ↑ Wisconsin Watchdog, "Wall Street Journal: GAB targeted conservative justices in John Doe defense," September 17, 2015
- ↑ Eric O'Keefe v. Francis Schmitz, et al., "Complaint," accessed September 16, 2015
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