On the heels of March for Life, a grand jury chose not to indict Planned Parenthood over controversial undercover videos that pro-life advocates alleged showed the illegal sale of fetal tissue. Will they demand the same rigorous investigations into the Center for Medical Progress as they did into Planned Parenthood?
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After months of reviewing the footage, activist David Daleiden was indicted under a law that bans the purchase and sale of human organs. Another activist, Sandra Merritt, was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record.
Conservative religious leaders and politicians, however, condemned what they described as the unfair indictment of the anti-abortion video makers.
“We’re thrilled, but not surprised, of course, that the grand jury has found that Planned Parenthood did nothing wrong”. Planned Parenthood, which provides healthcare services to millions of women nationwide, including abortions, has denied any wrongdoing.
The attorney, who represents Daleiden, says he doesn’t know when that will happen.
Daleiden plans to plead not guilty to the charges, Klasing said.
The video footage showed people pretending to be from a company called BioMax that procures fetal tissue for research. Late previous year, Texas cut off Medicaid funding for the women’s giant, prompting Planned Parenthood to sue the state. When he wanted an investigation into a local Planned Parenthood, Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson immediately got to work. But jurors concluded the organization committed no wrongdoing. Now a Texas grand jury has done so, too. “In this case, it looks like the grand jurors took an honest assessment of the evidence and they came up with best charges available”.
Planned Parenthood spokesman Eric Ferrero hailed the indictments, accusing the videographers of having an “extreme anti-abortion political agenda”.
Fox News reports that pro-life Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., author of the House’s Defund Planned Parenthood Act of 2015, was “profoundly disappointed” by the indictments, adding, “It is a sad day in America when those who harvest the body parts of aborted babies escape consequences for their actions, while the courageous truth-tellers who expose their misdeeds are handed down a politically motivated indictment instead”. Better yet, in a surprise twist, it indicted employees of the Center for Medical Progress, the organization that recorded the videos.
Despite the center’s lofty name, public filings suggest only a small number of people are affiliated with the nonprofit, none of whom are scientists or physicians engaged in advancing medical treatments.
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But, Planned Parenthood manager Margaret Kenny stands by the facilities practices and says there have always been groups attempting to discredit Planned Parenthood.
