Planned Parenthood significantly increased its federal lobbying presence, as Republicans in Congress pushed to defund the group in recent months, according to new lobbying disclosures.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund and Planned Parenthood Federation of America — the 501c4 and 501c3 arms of the organization, respectively — both dramatically increased their spending on lobbying the federal government between July and September.
Planned Parenthood Action Fund spent about $310,000 more than it did in the previous quarter of the year and Planned Parenthood Federation of America spent about $105,000 more.
The increase in spending follows the release of undercover videos by a pro-life group, accusing Planned Parenthood of selling aborted fetuses’ organs and tissues. Planned Parenthood and Democrats have maintained that the doctored videos are part of a partisan attack by Republicans.
In an interview with BuzzFeed News earlier this month, Dawn Laguens, executive vice president and chief experience officer of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said the group's lobbying efforts were helping them fight back Republicans' “right-wing ideological crusade."
“This shows everyone why having a lobbying and political strategy is critically important," she said. "Things would be far worse if we didn’t."