Thursday, March 28, 2024

Planned Parenthood Undercover Videographer Cleared of All Charges

Photo credit: American Life League via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)
Photo credit: American Life League via Flickr (CC BY-NC 2.0)

Last year, the Center for Medical Progress released a series of videos documenting Planned Parenthood’s illegal trafficking of aborted children’s body parts. They feature Planned Parenthood officials haggling over the price of a baby’s liver, discussing how to most profitably crush an unborn child’s abdomen, and a whole host of other equally horrific statements. One video features a former employee of bio-medical company StemExpress, who had been instructed to dissect a child delivered at a San Jose Planned Parenthood clinic while the child’s heart was still beating. Today, the Harris County District Attorney’s office in Texas dropped all charges against David Daleiden, the man behind the videos.

Liberal politicians and the media as a whole dismissed and continue to dismiss the videos, claiming without evidence that they are deceptively edited. Two studies of the footage, including one commissioned by Planned Parenthood itself, both concluded that the footage was genuine and not edited in any manipulative way. The House of Representatives’ investigation over the past year has uncovered a wealth of evidence corroborating the allegations in the video.

The facts are no longer really up for debate: Planned Parenthood clinics profited off of the dissection and sale of parts of unborn children. Yet they have been shielded from almost all repercussions by their allies in all levels of government. Meanwhile, David Daleiden and others behind the video have been targeted by Planned Parenthood proxies, suffering a number of politically motivated attacks over the past year.

California’s Attorney General, whose campaigns are generously funded by a number of Planned Parenthood affiliates, oversaw a raid this April of Daleiden’s home, during which she seized hard drives containing the footage from his investigation. In Texas, no charges were brought against Planned Parenthood for selling babies’ body parts, but charges instead were brought against Daleiden for pretending he wanted to buy some. The charges that were dropped today, based on the fact that Daleiden used a fake ID while undercover, could have earned him up to 20 years in prison. And the District Attorney’s office which prosecuted him was found to have colluded with Planned Parenthood’s lawyers, even while it was supposed to be investigating them.

This fight is not about the facts. Planned Parenthood has lost on the facts, which horrify anyone willing to acknowledge them. Instead, it is decided by the political clout of Planned Parenthood, whose funding is held practically sacred in the Democratic Party’s new platform. Taxpayers should not be required to contribute money to an organization which not only kills children, but then proceeds to dissect them and sell them at a profit. But without the political force behind it, knowledge of these facts simply will not change the way things are. If Hillary Clinton is elected, Planned Parenthood will have room to be more brazen than ever. And it’s hard to imagine what could possibly be next.

Danny Cannon works for the American Principles Project.

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