PLANNED PARENTHOOD EXPOSED

In 2015 The Center for Medical Progress (CMP), led by David Daleiden, released explosive undercover videos featuring top Planned Parenthood (PP) executives candidly discussing the procurement and sale of fetal tissue. Since then, these videos have sparked a massive PP counter campaign, multiple lawsuits against Daleiden and his associate Sandra Merritt, the demise of a major procurement corporation and a full-scale investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) into Planned Parenthood’s baby body parts business.

Organs for Sale

On July 15th, 2015, CMP released its first video featuring Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s (PPFA) Senior Medical Director, Dr. Deborah Nucatola. Nucatola discussed various ways to alter late-term abortion procedures in order to obtain more valuable tissue for sale (a federal crime). People from across the political spectrum were horrified and shocked by the callous way Nucatola spoke about the demand for fetal livers, lungs and hearts, all while enjoying a salad and red wine.

The Counter Narrative

Prior to the release, Daleiden spent two years working undercover posing as Robert Sarkis, an employee of Biomax—a tissue procurement company. This alias allowed Daleiden to go deep within the abortion industry to collect data including the video featuring Dr. Nucatola. CMP released a dozen additional videos depicting similar conversations with other top-level PP medical staff looking to contribute to the fiscal growth of their clinics. PP needed a counter narrative, and needed to act fast. It promptly poured an alleged $8 million into a PR campaign that gave rise to the hashtag #StandWithPP as well as talking points like “deceptively edited” and “anti-choice extremists” which dominated every major media outlet. PP and its supporters continue to deny wrongdoing and insist the incriminating evidence in the CMP videos were debunked because they were “deceptively edited.” PP hired Fusion GPS, an elite Washington, D.C. opposition research firm, to review the videos. Their analysis, however, “did not reveal widespread evidence of substantive video manipulation.” Fusion also found “no evidence that CMP inserted dialogue not spoken by PP staff.” Another analysis funded by Alliance Defending Freedom was conducted by the third-party forensics company Coalfire which concluded the videos were “authentic” and “were not manipulated.”

A “Just” Justice

Soon after the initial release, PP, Stem Express (a tissue procurement company) and the National Abortion Federation filed a series of lawsuits against the CMP team. Although Stem Express eventually dropped its lawsuit and walked away empty-handed, PPFA and the NAF were able to secure a preliminary injunction which prevented CMP from releasing the hours of additional footage to the public or to law enforcement. The presiding judge in this case, Judge William Orrick III, has an ongoing relationship with PP Northern California, one of the plaintiffs suing Daleiden. According to CMP, there are at least a dozen additional videos yet to be released. On December 13, 2017 attorneys representing CMP filed a writ of mandamus at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in hopes of removing Orrick and replacing him with an unbiased judge. It’s unclear why San Francisco’s courts have not already removed Orrick from the case.

To the Courts

In December 2017 the DOJ announced its investigation into PP’s role in the sale and trafficking of human fetal organs. Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas reached a plea deal with DV Biologics LLC and sister company DaVinci Biosciences LLC—a biotech procurement company that worked directly with PP— in which the company will pay $7.8 million in damages, admit guilt in trafficking fetal tissue and abandon all business in California. According to the lawsuit, the company spent years selling tissue for up to $1,100 per vial 5 in at least ten different countries. CMP expects an honest investigation of PP Northern California will reveal similar crimes.

Civil Trial

In the fall of 2019, Planned Parenthood vs. The Center for Medical Progress was considered by a San Francisco jury in corrupt Judge Orrick’s federal courtroom. That jury ordered CMP to pay PP more than 2.3 million dollars in damages even though Planned Parenthood was “damaged” only by their own words said in public spaces. There is ample opportunity for appeal. But additionally, through the discovery process and deposition testimonies provided under oath from PP executives, tissue procurement company leaders, and other abortion industry insiders, the truth is revealed: that PP purposefully profited from the sale of fetal tissue. A particular damning piece of evidence is an e-mail chain between PP leadership discussing the CMP’s proposed purchase prices for fetal body parts indicating in writing that PP clinic leaders intended to follow through with the purchase. Another is the financial statements showing definitively that one affiliate, PP Mar Monte, was given $25,000 in exchange for fetal organs during just a three month period, indicating a far broader and more lucrative program operating throughout the PP affiliates.

The US Department of Justice

The FBI announced the beginning of their investigation into PP’s involvement in the sale of human organs in 2017, but so far the U.S. DOJ has failed to announce the findings of that investigation. Meanwhile, potential indictments loom for PP.

Eavesdropping in Public

Daleiden and Merritt continue to face 15 felony charges filed by California State Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, who has taken tens of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from PP. Becerra is charging the duo, not with defamation, but with eavesdropping and one count of conspiracy to eavesdrop. This ignores the fact that these conversations took place in public spaces.

Screen capture of CMP video where Dr. Deborah Nucatola describes how PP sells body parts from babies during her lunch.

David Daleiden and his legal team.

Pivotal Times

These are pivotal times. Daleiden and Merritt’s work could not only defund PP, but see it prosecuted for these crimes. Once PP’s pervasive message is eliminated from media outlets and the offices of elected officials, an honest conversation can be had about the relationship between abortion and profit in America. This truth exposed could very likely signal the end to legal abortion in the United States, and the beginning of a culture that respects the inherent dignity and worth of every human, born and preborn.

- Terrisa Bukovinac, Founder and Executive Director of Pro-Life San Francisco

To watch the undercover videos and to learn more, visit: www.centerformedicalprogress.org