Planned Parenthood baby-body-parts profits on trial
WND
Attorneys for the undercover journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood’s profiting from baby body parts say four California affiliates of the abortion provider must respond to questions about the body-parts trade.
The Life Legal Defense Foundation said the abortion businesses were ordered to respond to questions about their “profit margin from procuring organs and tissue from aborted babies and selling them to fetal tissue procurement companies.”
The questions come in a lawsuit filed by Planned Parenthood and several of its affiliate businesses against the Center for Medical Progress and its founder, David Daleiden, along with pro-life activists who participated in the investigative sting, Sandra Merritt and Albin Rhomberg.
The abortionists contend that the videos “showing Planned Parenthood doctors callously discussing the price of baby parts were ‘misleadingly edited’ to make it appear that Planned Parenthood clinics were violating federal and state laws against profiting from the sale of fetal parts.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently ruled that the videos were not deceptive.
Planned Parenthood sued, nevertheless, vowing to expose the “falsity” of the videos and recover millions of dollars in damages for the alleged harm they caused to Planned Parenthood.
The legal team said discovery in the lawsuit already has revealed that the four Planned Parenthood affiliates most heavily involved in fetal tissue procurement, “while receiving monthly payments from fetal tissue marketers, kept no records of their legally allowable costs.”
That could violate federal law, since they are not allowed to profit from the trade.
Earlier, the House Select Panel investigating Planned Parenthood’s fetal tissue procurement practices determined that, in practice, the costs were nominal to non-existent.
The abortionists have continued to deny their revenues exceeded their expenses but have refused to explain.
Now, Magistrate Judge Donna Ryu of the Northern District of California, has granted the request of Life Legal Defense Foundation to question the affiliates.
“Since the day the first CMP video was released, Planned Parenthood has proclaimed its innocence and insisted it was the victim of a ‘smear’ that it sold baby parts,” said Alexandra Snyder, executive director of Life Legal Defense Foundation.
“We know money went in, baby parts went out, and costs were negligible. We look forward to Planned Parenthood finally have to explain how that didn’t violate federal law.”
‘Unprecedented opportunity’
WND reported one week ago abortion executives in a related case against CMP are scheduled to be deposed about their body-parts profits and the video revelations.
Read more at http://mobile.wnd.com/2019/01/planned-parenthood-baby-body-parts-profits-on-trial/#6Y1wJ1LCjjX7bIxl.99
The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund described the coming depositions as “an unprecedented opportunity” for abortion opponents to get information about “the abortion giant’s illegal selling of baby parts.”
A trial is scheduled next September, but before the end of April, Daleiden’s lawyers are to interview under oath Deb VanDerhei, national director, consortium of abortion providers, PPFA; Deb Nucatola of Planned Parenthood; Mary Gatter, PPFA; Melissa Farrell, PP Gulf Coast; Ellen Gertzog, PPFA; Savita Ginde, PP Rocky Mountains; and Tram Nguyen, PP Gulf Coast.
Several of the videos have been suppressed by an abortion-linked judge that contain more information about the National Abortion Federation.
Here are two of the videos released by CMP: