Planned Parenthood’s Alabama state political action committee dissolved on Thursday after months of mysterious activity, according to public records made available by the Secretary of State’s office.
The PAC, called “Alabamians for Healthy Families,” was officially affiliated with Planned Parenthood Southeast, which is headquartered in Atlanta. Planned Parenthood Southeast’s president and CEO Staci Fox served as the PAC chair and the organization’s Alabama state director Katie Glenn served as the PAC treasurer.
While the PAC did not register with the Secretary of State’s office until April 2 of this year, their registration paperwork states the PAC was formed on December 12, 2017 – the exact date Sen. Doug Jones won election to the United States Senate.
The PAC filed timely monthly reports for April, May and June and a late monthly report for July.
However, the only activity shown on these reports are in-kind contributions totaling $18,744.72 from Planned Parenthood Southeast, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) Inc. and Planned Parenthood Action Fund – the official federal PAC for the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
The original April and May monthly reports were amended on August 23 to show that the federal PAC (not the Planned Parenthood Federation of America itself) gave money to the state PAC.
That same day last week, Sen. Jones voted to continue federal funding of Planned Parenthood.
Alabama’s Fair Campaign Practices Act (FCPA) defines a political action committee as:
Any political committee, club, association, political party, or other group of one or more persons, whether in-state or out-of-state, which receives or anticipates receiving contributions and makes or anticipates making expenditures to or on behalf of any Alabama state or local elected of cial, proposition, candidate, principal campaign committee, or other political action committee.
The stated purpose of the “Alabamians for Healthy Families” Planned Parenthood PAC was “to accept contributions and make expenditures in order to support elected officials, propositions, candidates, or principal campaign committees that support access to health care for all Alabamians.”
The PAC did not disclose monetary contributions or spending of any kind over the entirety of its existence. This also means that it is unclear what candidates and elected officials, if any, “Alabamians for Healthy Families” supported.
Sean Ross is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @sean_yhn
