A report published by the Ethics and Public Policy Center this spring included what anti-abortion leaders say is an earth-shattering finding: Nearly 11% of women experienced sepsis, infection, hemorrhaging or “another serious adverse event” within 45 days of having an abortion using mifepristone.
The report is not peer reviewed, and its dataset is not available, making it impossible to replicate the study or assess the methodology. It also runs contrary to established science: More than 100 scientific studies and leading medical organizations have concluded the drug is safe and effective.
But in the months since it was published, the report has spread across Washington. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and other anti-abortion groups have seized upon the report to pressure the Trump administration and Congress to further restrictions on abortions. Frontline Policy Action, The Heritage Foundation and the American Association of Pro-Life OB-GYNs all signed onto a letter to Trump administration officials calling mifepristone “unacceptably dangerous” and pointing to the report as “growing evidence of mifepristone’s harm.”
These groups — or their political arms — have something in common: They’re funded by a dark money group aligned with conservative legal activist Leonard Leo. Leo sits on the board of the Ethics and Public Policy Center, which receives a significant amount of its funding from another Leo-aligned nonprofit, the 85 Fund.
Even as President Donald Trump lambasted Leo as a “sleazebag” who “probably hates America,” the conservative movement leader’s dark money network has been quietly bankrolling the anti-abortion movement into its next phase, giving more cash than ever, according to previously unreported tax documents obtained by NOTUS.
In the two years after the 2022 Supreme Court opinion striking down the federal right to abortion, The Concord Fund, a dark money group, has poured more than $37.3 million into anti-abortion groups and efforts. Nearly $22.4 million of that went out between July 2023 and June 2024, according to the Concord Fund’s most recent Form 990.
The Concord Fund, which is almost entirely funded by another Leo-run nonprofit, has significantly upped its financial stake in the anti-abortion fight since the fall of Roe v. Wade. During the ten years between July 2012 and June 2022, The Concord Fund gave anti-abortion groups $16.9 million. That amount more than doubled in just two years following the Dobbs decision, according to a NOTUS analysis of annual tax filings available on ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.
The deluge of Concord Fund money has gone to several groups engaged in state and federal efforts to restrict access to mifepristone, a longstanding fight for anti-abortion advocates that gained new life in the wake of the ruling.
“We’re at a tipping point,” Abby Johnson, a prominent anti-abortion advocate not associated with Leo, told NOTUS during a rally commemorating the third anniversary of the decision that overturned Roe. “The pro-life movement has said for years this [abortion] pill is dangerous.”
The Concord Fund only says the money goes toward “general operating” for each group, making it impossible to track how exactly the funds were spent.
NOTUS contacted each of the groups supporting anti-abortion efforts that received grants from The Concord Fund between July 2023 and June 2024 as well as the Ethics and Public Policy Center for comment.
But Leo has reportedly been pressuring groups in his orbit to be more aggressive or risk losing funding.
“He’s very serious about getting more return on investment and delivering wins for the movement,” a source familiar with the matter told NOTUS.
Neither Leo nor The Concord Fund responded to requests for comment.
Nonprofits are not required to disclose their donors in their annual filings with the IRS, which they don’t need to file until a full year later. But they do have to disclose the grants they give out, offering a window into the money flowing into and fueling allied groups.
The Concord Fund disclosed more than $54 million in grants between July 2023 and June 2024, more money than it’s ever given out in a single year. Of that total, nearly $22.4 million went to groups that support anti-abortion efforts, including the current fight against mifepristone.
“Leonard Leo is yet again working overtime to ram through a widely unpopular anti-choice agenda, orchestrated by a small group of far right special interests,” said Caroline Ciccone, the president of progressive watch-dog group Accountable.US, which provided NOTUS an early copy of the Concord Fund’s 990. NOTUS later obtained a copy independently.
The lion’s share of The Concord Fund’s grantmaking — nearly $17.3 million — went to Protect Women Ohio Action, which unsuccessfully tried to sway voters to reject an amendment codifying abortion rights in the state during the 2023 election.
Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America received $2 million from The Concord Fund. Advancing American Freedom — led by former Vice President Mike Pence — received nearly $1.3 million, marking the most the group has received from The Concord Fund since its inception.
AAF has consistently advocated to overturn the Food and Drug Administration’s approval of mifepristone and filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case to restrict mifepristone access. AAPLOG was one of the plaintiffs in the case, which the Supreme Court dismissed last year.
AAPLOG Action received $500,000 from The Concord Fund during the year ending June 2024. AAPLOG said it had “nothing to add” when asked about the group’s relationship with The Concord Fund and then pointed NOTUS to a podcast its director of research, Donna Harrison, did amplifying the Ethics and Public Policy Center report.
“Thanks, in part, to Leonard Leo’s secretive donor network, the wind continues to be in the sails of anti-abortion activists,” Michael Beckel, senior research director at Issue One and a money-in-politics expert, said in an email to NOTUS. “These organizations are working to capitalize on the momentum they’ve achieved and tapping a wealthy donor network to aid in the fight. Based on the public records alone, it’s virtually impossible for the public to know who’s bankrolling their advocacy efforts.”
Protect Women Ohio Action, Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America, Advancing American Freedom, Concerned Women for America, Family Foundation Action, the Council for National Policy and the Ethics and Public Policy Center did not respond to requests for comment. AAPLOG and Heritage Action declined to comment.
Mifepristone has been a target for anti-abortion activists since the FDA first approved it in 2000. In the aftermath of the Dobbs decision, anti-abortion advocates say they’re at a turning point in their mission to restrict abortion pills.
Sen. Josh Hawley — a staunch ally to the anti-abortion movement — told NOTUS that having both a Trump-aligned FDA and Ethics and Public Policy report makes “a big difference” in the mission to reimpose restrictions on mifepristone.
The Supreme Court last summer dismissed Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine v. FDA, a case challenging the FDA’s approval of mifepristone, which is used in most abortions in the U.S. Three Republican states — Missouri, Idaho and Kansas — took over the case in suing the FDA in a Texas federal court. The Trump administration is currently defending the FDA only on procedural grounds and, in a court briefing, suggested it was open to future legal cases against mifepristone.
Trump’s FDA chief appeared to invite a challenge — one anti-abortion groups, including many funded by Leo-linked nonprofits, were eager to meet.
FDA Commissioner Martin Makary reiterated in April during the Semafor World Economy Summit that he had “no plans to take action” to restrict mifepristone. But he left the door open, saying, “If the data suggests something or tells us that there’s a real signal, we can’t promise we’re not going to act on that data.”
A few days later, the Ethics and Public Policy Center released its report. While criticized as “junk science” by medical experts and abortion rights advocates, anti-abortion advocates have been using it to lobby senior officials at the FDA, HHS and on Capitol Hill, Politico reported in May.
Hawley told NOTUS that he is in “constant contact” with HHS on mifepristone. He added that the agency has told him they are “concerned about the study.”
“They need to put back in place the safety protocols,” Hawley said, referring to previous requirements that mandated patients to get mifepristone directly from a doctor instead of accessing it online, which essentially circumvents abortion bans.
Hawley is not the only congressional Republican urging the FDA to restrict mifepristone. The House Appropriations subcommittee with jurisdiction over the FDA advanced a bill that specifically supports an FDA review on mifepristone in light of “new data” — referring to the Ethics and Public Policy Center report — and directs the agency to report back its findings to the subcommittee.
After Trump’s victory last November, Leo told NPR that he’s on a mission to “crush liberal dominance.” He’s flush with cash.
Leo is the chairman and trustee of a nonprofit called Marble Freedom Trust, which received a $1.6 billion gift after its formation in 2020 from an electronics manufacturing mogul, as first reported by The New York Times. Through April 2024, Marble Freedom Trust plowed nearly $161.4 million into The Concord Fund, formerly known as the Judicial Crisis Network, according to a NOTUS review of annual nonprofit disclosure reports.
Leo does not have a formal role in either The Concord Fund or the 85 Fund, but both groups have paid his for-profit CRC Advisors tens of millions of dollars for “consulting,” “management support” and other services. In September, Axios reported that Leo sent a letter on behalf of the 85 Fund pushing groups to move toward “operationalizing and weaponizing those ideas and policies to crush liberal dominance at the choke points of influence and power in our society,” or risk being cut off.
It’s unclear whether recipients of Concord Fund grants received a similar letter. But the source who told NOTUS that Leo was “very serious” about his return on investment said it was a clear warning to groups that wanted his support.
“Every single group who wants Leonard’s support viewed that letter as applying universally,” this source said. “And any group who didn’t get the message is not very smart!”