Thursday, March 28, 2024

Texas DA Accused of Colluding with Planned Parenthood in Undercover Videos Case

A Planned Parenthood facility in St. Paul, MN (photo credit: Fibonacci Blue via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)
A Planned Parenthood facility in St. Paul, MN (photo credit: Fibonacci Blue via Flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Planned Parenthood is once again at the center of a legal controversy this week after one of its lawyers testified that a Texas district attorney’s office illegally shared evidence with the abortion giant in the lead up to the grand jury hearings against David Daleiden.

Daleiden surged into the spotlight last year after his group, Center for Medical Progress, released a number of videos showing Planned Parenthood officials engaged in questionable activity related to the distribution of baby body parts. Controversially, however, it was Daleiden who was eventually indicted, not Planned Parenthood, after all the videos had come to light.

As it turns out, the DA involved in the case may not have had the purest motives. The Washington Times reports:

A Houston prosecutor shared evidence with a Planned Parenthood attorney during a grand jury investigation that resulted in indictments of pro-life investigators, fueling allegations of prosecutorial abuse, according to a court document released Tuesday.

In a sworn statement, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast attorney Josh Schaffer said that Harris County Assistant District Attorney Sunni Mitchell figured out a way to bypass a state directive in order to deliver him raw video footage taken by the pro-life Center for Medical Progress.

[…]

The Thomas More Society, a legal foundation involved in representing Mr. Daleiden, described the interaction as an “end-run around the Texas Attorney General’s directive.”

“The recent filings by the Harris County District Attorney confirm that the DA shared confidential documents and information with abortion provider Planned Parenthood, colluding with it in the prosecution of David Daleiden,” said Thomas More special counsel Peter Breen.

“These filings also include evidence that appears to show that the DA’s office worked with Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast to undermine the Texas Attorney General’s independent investigation of that abortion provider,” Mr. Breen said. “The conduct of Harris County prosecutors in this case is outrageous and illegal. We look forward to pressing our motion to quash this indictment in court.”

The Federalist, looking further into the issue, also points out that this particular DA’s office has a number of connections to the abortion industry:

As The Federalist reported, the DA who indicted Daleiden has received more than $25,000 in campaign contributions from the defense attorney for abortionist Douglas Karpen, who has been described as the Kermit Gosnell of Texas.

One of the prosecutors at the same DA’s office was a member of the board of directors for the Planned Parenthood affiliate that Daleiden went after. Her LinkedIn page shows she’s served as a Planned Parenthood board member since 2013 and a fundraiser for the abortion provider since 2009, The Federalist reported.

But don’t worry, no conflict of interest to see here…

Paul Dupont is the managing editor for ThePulse2016.com.

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