Personhood Super PAC

The website of the Pro-Life Super PAC claims it is “made up of a group of concerned citizens that wish to support candidates who have a strong pro-life record.” It is running anti-Romney advertisements in Michigan, and plans to run ads in other states at least through Super Tuesday.

Personhood USA, the group that has agitated for so-called Personhood amendments and laws in the states, sent out a press release “applauding a Pro-Life Super PAC ad exposing Mitt Romney’s continued support of abortion.”

 The Super PAC’s website has a widget that allows you to “find out which candidates have pledged to be pro-life.” It clicks through to the Personhood USA website. Personhood USA did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Jason Jones, a spokesperson for the Pro-Life Super PAC, claimed the Super PAC was not connected to Personhood USA or any other organization. He said, “we like the [Personhood] pledge. We think it’s a good standard.” The Personhood pledge, which Romney did not sign, commits candidates to supporting legislation and judges who would declare fertilized eggs human beings with “unalienable rights.”

The anti-Romney ad the group is running has been called misleading by FactCheck.org:

An anti-abortion group is making the shocking claim that Mitt Romney “enforced a law which required Catholic hospitals to provide abortions.” To call this a stretch is putting it mildly. What Romney enforced — after first vetoing the legislation — was a requirement that hospitals provide rape victims with the morning-after pill, a drug that is designed to stop pregnancy from occurring if taken within a few days of unprotected intercourse. He didn’t tell Catholic hospitals that they had to perform abortions.

The ad reflects a growing misinformation campaign adopted by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as well as evangelical opponents of the Department of Health and Human Services contraception coverage requirement under the Affordable Care Act. False claims that emergency contraception acts as an abortifacient were repeatedly made at the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing two weeks ago, without correction or clarification.

Jones said the group just filed its organizational report with the Federal Election Commission, but refused to divulge any details before the report is made public. “We don’t have one big donor,” he said, but rather “several small ones.” He said the group hoped “to attract big donors” but for now it is being financed by “regular folks trying to be good citizens. Like the pro-life movement, you’re going to find we have don’t have one big donor like George Soros. Right now it’s a lot of folks who share the belief that all human beings should be protected from their biological beginning.”

Jones, who said he is based in Los Angeles, said the group’s accountant set up the post office box in Tulsa, Oklahoma, which serves as the address for the group. He refused to reveal the name of the accountant.