Abortion fight led to transparency law that group hopes to overturn

Students for Life Action wants return to anonymous campaigning

A South Dakota campaign finance law that a Virginia organization is attempting to overturn has its roots in the fight over abortion rights.

Students for Life Action, which advocates for restrictions on abortion, is asking a federal judge to find the campaign finance law unconstitutional. The law requires independent political groups like Students for Life Action to disclose the identity of their five largest donors.

But Students for Life Action argues the law violates the First Amendment because it compels speech.

“When the government forces someone to speak a government-drafted message he would not otherwise say, courts must subject that compulsion to the highest level of First Amendment scrutiny – that is, strict scrutiny,” the group’s complaint says.

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