In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released a series of undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s horrifying and illegal practices of harvesting and selling organs from aborted babies. Over four years after the fact, Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation have managed to persuade a jury and much of the public that they are the victims in this case and that David Daleiden and his associates at the Center for Medical Progress owe them restitution for damages caused by the undercover videos.
The videos released by CMP revealed Planned Parenthood medical directors callously discussing pricing of aborted fetal tissue over lunch, making jokes about increasing prices for certain organs in order to afford a Lamborghini and admitting to leaving abortion survivors to die, as well as abortionists admitting to illegally altering late-term abortion procedures so that harvested organs would remain intact and discussing strategies for harvesting body parts without violating bans on partial-birth abortions.
In a ruling against Daleiden in November, the judge and jury refused to take into account Planned Parenthood’s crimes that were exposed by the Center for Medical Progress or their First Amendment rights to call into account the evil being committed by this powerful organization. As the Center for Medical Progress stated in their response to the ruling, “This is a dangerous precedent for citizen journalism and First Amendment civil rights across the country, sending the message that speaking the truth and using facts to criticize the powerful is no longer protected by our institutions.”
Although six charges have been dropped, Daleiden and his associates at CMP are still facing trial on nine felony counts and potentially up to ten years in prison. He and Sandra Merritt will be arraigned on the 21st of this month.
During his investigation, Daleiden limited his recordings to public spaces where one could reasonably expect the conversation to be overheard, testifying that he “tried to keep [his] recordings within the boundaries of California law as [he] understood it” and that in so doing, he likely did not obtain as much information as he could have.
In the wake of CMP’s video releases, Planned Parenthood officially ended their practice of receiving reimbursement for harvested baby parts, a move that Daleiden has called an admission of guilt. Although Planned Parenthood described the videos as “misleading,” it is worth noting that they did not sue for defamation with false statements. Sworn testimony in court confirmed that the videos were accurate, and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Texas could take away taxpayer subsidies from Planned Parenthood based on the evidence in the videos.
The CMP’s undercover investigative work brought to light the evil that Planned Parenthood was committing in secret, subjecting them to public scrutiny and, to some extent, loss of favor. Planned Parenthood, which has nearly $1.9 billion in net assets, retaliated by suing CMP, initially demanded $20 million in damages. If ever there was a David and Goliath case, it was this. Only in this case, Goliath had the full backing of a highly biased judge. Despite Judge Orrick’s significant ties to Planned Parenthood, he refused to recuse himself from the case. In February 2016, he issued an injunction barring the release of CMP’s undercover videos. Throughout the proceedings, he suppressed evidence and specifically instructed the jury not to consider the First Amendment in their decision. Orrick also informed the jury that the defendants were not to discuss the “truth of abortion procedures,” and that the case is not about “whether plaintiffs profited from the sale of fetal tissue or otherwise violated the law in securing tissue for those programs.”
Even though the videos accurately depicted actual conversations taking place in public spaces, the jury followed Judge Orrick’s recommendation and awarded Planned Parenthood over $2 million in punitive and compensatory damages and legal fees.
Writing at The Federalist, Margot Cleveland drew attention to the similarities between the Center for American Progress case and Food Lion Corp v. Capital Cities ABC. In that case, two ABC reporters went undercover at Food Lion Corporation and exposed the company’s illegal practices such as grinding expired meat together with new meat, bleaching old meat to conceal its odor, and redating products not sold before their expiration date. Food Lion sued, but at the end of the day, the journalists paid just $2 for breach of loyalty and trespassing.
In an even more dramatic undercover case, the Chicago Sun-Times purchased “Mirage Tavern” and used it as a cover for a two-month-long sting exposing bribery and corruption in Chicago city officials. The reporters behind the 25-part exposé never faced legal repercussions.
Undercover investigation is a pillar of journalism and a vital means of fighting corruption and abuses of power. Because of this, journalistic work to expose crime has historically been protected. That Judge Orrick specifically ordered the jury not to consider the First Amendment in their ruling is an attack on free speech and, as Daleiden’s lawyers have pointed out, pose a threat to investigative to investigative journalism everywhere.
Even more so, the attacks on the Center for Medical Progress are attacks on the truth. Truth matters and injustice ought to be exposed. Dalieden and his associates uncovered disgustingly evil practices that were taking place at Planned Parenthood—and the even more appalling fact that many of the people carrying out these heinous acts of violence were laughing and joking about it. Ephesians 5:11 tells us not to take part in works of darkness but to expose them. By going undercover to bring to light Planned Parenthood’s heinous crimes, the CMP was doing just that.
