A grand jury has indicted two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos alleging Planned Parenthood illegally sold fetal tissue to researchers for a profit, and said the abortion provider committed no wrong.
Advertisement
The videos have been an intense topic on the 2016 campaign trail, with Republicans using them as evidence to call for the dismantling of Planned Parenthood, while Democrats have rallied around the organization.
In a surprising twist, the grand jury into these videos found Planned Parenthood did not commit any crimes but that two of the video’s producers did. He and the other activist, Sandra Merritt, were both indicted for tampering with a governmental record. That charge is a class A misdemeanor that carries a punishment of up to a year in jail. And Jennifer, who’s charged and with what? Whether Daleiden used a fake drivers license to obtain the footage ultimately doesn’t change the reality of the disturbing conversations, which most people who have actually viewed the footage acknowledge. The Texas video submitted to the Houston grand jury was the fifth released by the Center for Medical Progress. “Kill the babies. That’s what Planned Parenthood does”, he continued. Center head David R. Daleiden was also charged with a misdemeanor count related to offering to buy human tissue.
Republican leaders in the House of Representatives used the videos and the anticipation of grand jury action against Planned Parenthood as a springboard for a roster of hearings created to smear the organization and prevent them from providing contraceptive services and life-saving reproductive health care. “From what I read”, she told the radio host, “somehow the charge is that they falsified government identities because that’s true obviously…I only know what I read at this point, but I think it’s pretty clear that we now know what goes on in Planned Parenthood clinics”. As for the alleged use of a fake ID, Breen said the Center for Medical Progress followed standard conventions of investigative journalism, and was not aware a similar scenario that prompted a felony charge. Before that, she had been a judge until 2008, when a wave of Democratic turnout for President Barack Obama swept Houston Republicans out of local office. Where do they stand now? In a statement announcing Monday’s charges, Anderson said, “As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us”. The Houston Planned Parenthood clinic said it never entered into the agreement and ceased contact with BioMax because it was “disturbed” by the overtures. Moreover, Planned Parenthood clinics offer women, many of whom are low-income, an assortment of services that have nothing to do with performing abortions.
The jury looked at the video and saw a scam, and decided not only to vindicate Planned Parenthood but to file a felony charge against those who perpetuated the scam. Texas will continue looking into any possible wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood. The videos were heavily edited to make it appear that Planned Parenthood was indeed in the fetal tissue business despite official claims swearing otherwise. That did not happen.
And fetal tissue donations, used for research in everything from the polio vaccine to finding a cure for cancer, are also, thankfully, legal – incidentally, through laws passed with bipartisan support. That is still organizing – no meetings yet.
Lewis, a longtime political donor in Houston whose beneficiaries include Anderson, said he helped soften the political fallout for her in Republican circles.
LUDDEN: Right. Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood’s affiliate in California brought a civil suit accusing Daleiden and some others of conspiracy and fraud. The Thomas More Society, a conservative public interest law firm, is representing Daleiden in the racketeering case, but representatives from the firm would not say Tuesday whether they will be handling his criminal defense.
Advertisement
SIEGEL: That’s NPR’s Jennifer Ludden.
