Author: David

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

UNDERCOVER VIDEOMAKER SUES PLANNED PARENTHOOD, KAMALA HARRIS, CA AG FOR VIOLATING CIVIL RIGHTS
Lawsuit Claims “Content-Based” Selective Enforcement of CA Video Recording Law To Silence First Amendment Speech and Cover Up for Abortion Industry

Contact: David Daleiden, media@centerformedicalprogress.org, 949.734.0859

IRVINE, May 13–The Center for Medical Progress and its founder David Daleiden, responsible for the undercover video series exposing top Planned Parenthood leadership negotiating the harvesting and sale of aborted fetal body parts, are suing Planned Parenthood, Kamala Harris, and California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in Los Angeles federal court for conspiracy to violate First and Fourteenth Amendment civil rights.

The lawsuit states:

“This complaint seeks justice for a brazen, unprecedented, and ongoing conspiracy to selectively use California’s video recording laws as a political weapon to silence disfavored speech. David Daleiden became the first journalist ever to be criminally prosecuted under California’s recording law, not because of the method of video recording he utilized in his investigation—which is common in investigative journalism in this state—but because his investigation revealed and he published “shock[ing]” content that California’s Attorney General and the private party co-conspirators wanted to cover up.”

California’s recording law bans secret videotaping of “confidential” conversations where third parties cannot be expected to overhear the conversation. The lawsuit documents many recent examples of undercover video recording by California news outlets, even recording conversations that could not be overheard by others, that the Attorney General never prosecuted.

The California Attorney General admitted in a filing that Daleiden alone among other undercover recorders was being charged for his videos because “those recordings were edited to enhance their shock value” and thus Daleiden was “culpable to a greater extent” than other journalists.

And then during questioning about the elements of the video recording law used for prosecution at the preliminary hearing last year, the California Attorney General declared in open court, “There is no definition of ‘confidential’ in the statute” on video recording. The California recording law in fact defines “confidential communication” at 632(c).

“The California Attorney General first admitted that they are enforcing the video recording law solely based on how they feel about the message being published, and then further admitted they are not even trying to follow the text of the law as written,” Daleiden notes. “CMP’s undercover reporting has been corroborated by the successful prosecution of fetal body parts sales we reported in southern California, multiple Congressional investigations, and forensic video analysis. It is every reporter’s First Amendment right to underscore the gravity of their findings, especially when the politically powerful disagree with them.”

Harmeet K. Dhillon, lead counsel on the complaint, states: “Our federal civil rights statutes were enacted in the wake of the darkest periods in our nation’s history. They are well-suited for the current civil rights crisis we face, a time when powerful politicians allow their special interest patrons to custom-order prosecutions that violate fundamental constitutional rights, and do so even with the knowledge that their actions are ultra vires.”

Beginning under the leadership of now-U.S. Senator Kamala Harris, the California Attorney General’s office targeted Daleiden’s speech under the video recording law at the urging of Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation, and StemExpress, a fetal tissue procurement company with deep ties to the professional abortion industry. While running for U.S. Senate, Harris had a secret in-person meeting with Planned Parenthood executives in Los Angeles, including witnesses in her investigation, to discuss issues in the investigation as part of Planned Parenthood’s political agenda in California. Two weeks later, Daleiden’s home was raided by the California Department of Justice.

California DOJ reports reveal that they were instructed by Planned Parenthood’s attorney Beth Parker, a defendant in the lawsuit, to seize “the computers used to produce the videos.” Last year, Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation attempted to intervene in the Attorney General’s prosecution of Daleiden to dictate how he would be allowed to present his defense. The California recording law includes an absolute protection for recordings made for the purpose of gathering evidence of violent crimes, and Planned Parenthood and NAF wanted to block off any evidence or testimony that would reveal criminality in their fetal tissue programs.

The publication of CMP’s undercover videos led to two comprehensive Congressional investigations, one in the Senate Judiciary Committee and one in the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Select Investigative Panel. The two investigations issued dozens of criminal referrals for Planned Parenthood and its business partners for transferring aborted fetal organs and tissues for valuable consideration against the law. In December 2017, the U.S. Department of Justice announced it had opened a federal investigation of Planned Parenthood, StemExpress, and others based on the referrals from Congress. Two of Planned Parenthood’s business partners in Orange County, CA then admitted guilt for selling aborted fetal organs and tissues from Planned Parenthood against the law in a $7.8 million settlement, and the Orange County District Attorney credited CMP’s undercover reporting with prompting the successful case.

The case is 8:20-cv-00891, The Center for Medical Progress and David Daleiden v. Xavier Becerra, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, National Abortion Federation, StemExpress, Kamala Harris, Jill Habig, Beth Parker, et al. in the Central District of California.

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Read the complaint here.

To watch the undercover videos, visit: centerformedicalprogress.org/cmp/investigative-footage

To learn more about CMP, visit: CMP.org

CMP project lead David Daleiden released the following statement today on the news about invoices being unsealed showing Planned Parenthood Mar Monte billing StemExpress for the number of “usable” “Products Of Conception (POCs)” harvested by StemExpress:

Contrary to what Planned Parenthood has long and falsely claimed, Planned Parenthood’s monthly invoices of fetal body parts show zero “reimbursements'” for shipping or packaging. They show Planned Parenthood selling baby body parts based on the number of specimens “determined in the clinic to be usable,” per contract with StemExpress. Planned Parenthood’s contracts and invoices are proof positive that their payments were tied solely to the marketability of aborted baby body parts.

Tying payments to marketable body parts in a quid pro quo is exactly the kind of criminal “valuable consideration” that federal law forbids. The Department of Justice forcefully prosecutes parties who sell endangered animal body parts for far less than the amount of money reflected in these invoices. When abortion businesses can make $25,000 a quarter selling baby body parts, it is long past time for the Department of Justice to do its job and hold them accountable.

Day 7 included Defense cross examination of Planned Parenthood Orange & San Bernardino Counties’ CEO Jon Dunn, and the sworn testimony of Dr. Deborah Nucatola, Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s previous Senior Director of Medical Services who described criminal partial-birth abortion procedures for fetal organ sales in the first CMP video release. Deborah VanDerhei, PPFA’s Vice President of Abortion Access, gave testimony via videotaped deposition.

• Dunn acknowledged under oath that neither David Daleiden nor any CMP videos ever called for any violence or physical harm against Planned Parenthood or its affiliates.
• Dr. Nucatola testified that Planned Parenthood Federation of America never got her authorization to bring claims in its lawsuit on her behalf. Dr. Nucatola has not worked at PPFA during most of the litigation in PPFA’s lawsuit.
• Dr. Nucatola also testified that she relied on the National Abortion Federation’s alleged “vetting” of conference exhibitors to engage with CMP undercover actors representing BioMax Procurement Services, because she believed NAF was the “gold standard” for security in the abortion industry. However, Dr. Nucatola testified that to this day she has no knowledge of what if anything nAF actually does to “vet” exhibitors at its trade shows.
• For the first time in open court, the Defense played for the jury approximately 4 and a half minutes of Dr. Nucatola’s conversation with CMP undercover investigators at a public restaurant in Los Angeles, in which she described using ultrasound guidance to flip a baby in the womb to feet-first breech position, in order to extract the baby intact and harvest whole, fresh organs. On the clip, Dr. Nucatola states, “We’ve been pretty successful with that, I’d say.” Dr. Nucatola testified under oath that when this video was released in 2015, she “felt the content was no big deal” and that she didn’t think she said anything inappropriate on the video.
• Deborah VanDerhei, head of PPFA’s Consortium of Abortion Providers, testified in her sworn deposition that when Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Research Director Melissa Farrell came to her and Dr. Nucatola with suspicions about the undercover CMP investigators at BioMax, Dr. Nucatola assured them that their suspicions were unfounded. VanDerhei also testified that when she had further suspicions about BioMax at the 2015 NAF trade show, she told NAF about it–but did not tell Planned Parenthood–and NAF said they would follow up, but then never did.

The proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Thursday, October 17, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

Day 6 of the civil trial against CMP by Planned Parenthood yielded significant on-the-record testimony from Dr. Mary Gatter, former medical director Planned Parenthood Los Angeles, and Jon Dunn, CEO of Planned Parenthood Orange & San Bernardino Counties, former business partners of the DaVinci companies who were shut down for illegally selling fetal organs and tissues from PPOSBC:

-Dr. Gatter described PPLA’s fetal tissue program with Novogenix Laboratories, acknowledging PPLA was “used to getting a set fee for each specimen” harvested. On cross examination, Dr. Gatter admitted that PPLA never complied with PPFA’s national guidelines that affiliates engage an independent auditor to make sure fetal tissue payments were merely reimbursements and not illegal profit or valuable consideration.

-Dr. Gatter described Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s screening process for trade show exhibitors at the time of CMP’s undercover investigation was “inadequate”.

-The undercover videos filmed of conversations with Dr. Gatter took place at a cocktail reception at an outdoor hotel pool, another reception in a hotel mezzanine, and at a restaurant, among other places of public accommodation. Dr. Gatter admitted cocktail lounges, restaurants, and elevators are all public places, as recognized by PPFA-issued conference security guidelines.

-Jon Dunn, president of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties, also testified that Planned Parenthood Federation of America’s screening process for trade show exhibitors was “inadequate”.

The proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Wednesday, October 16, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

Four individuals testified today in the Planned Parenthood Federation of America et al v. The Center for Medial Progress et al civil jury trial in San Francisco federal court: Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest medical director Dr. Thomas Moran, Planned Parenthood Northern California and Planned Parenthood Mar Monte abortion provider Dr. Leslie Drummond-Hay, Planned Parenthood Pasadena & San Gabriel Valley CEO Sherri Bonner, and former NAF Group Purchasing Manager Nichelle Davis via her deposition video.

• When defense attorneys showed him publicly available online documents where he identifies as an abortion provider, PPPSW’s Dr. Moran admitted his prior testimony that he had never disclosed his abortion work publicly was incorrect: “Counselor, you got me.”
• Dr. Drummond-Hay testified that 98% of her work at Planned Parenthood was providing abortions. She testified that StemExpress was impressed with the quality of intact fetal specimens that she could provide them to sell:
  Q. In that conversation, you were talking about intact fetal tissue, the fact that you got requests for intact limbs, the fact that you got oohs and ahhs from a middleman tissue procurement company, StemExpress.
  A. Yes.
  Q. And you were saying you get oohs and ahhs from them because they were impressed with how intact your tissue specimens are, correct?
  MS. MAYO: Objection; calls for speculation, 403.
  THE COURT: It is verging on 403, but overruled.
  THE WITNESS: I think they were oohing at the specimen. They weren’t oohing at me.
  BY MR. JONNA
  Q. What do you mean by that?
  A. The tissue procurement company was happy with the specimen.
• PPPSGV CEO Sherri Bonner testified that her affiliate is seeking only $9,000 in the lawsuit, for the costs of hiring a body guard and paying for internet reputation monitoring for Dr. Mary Gatter after the release of the videos. Although Judge Orrick previously barred the costs of responding to third-party reactions to the videos, Bonner testified that it was the content published on the videos that made her determine to hire security for Dr. Gatter but not for the other PPPSGV officer on the video, Laurel Felczer.
• Nichelle Davis, NAF’s Group Purchasing Manager who was in charge of screening and registering new Exhibitors for NAF’s trade show, acknowledged in her sworn deposition that all she did to “vet” BioMax was a search of its website, because BioMax was referred to her by two NAF employees she referenced as being “inside the circle” and was, in her description, pre-approved.

The proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Tuesday, October 15, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

After a day’s break, court reconvened to conclude the questioning of former CMP Board Director Albin Rohmberg, and then heard testimony from the National Abortion Federation’s VP of External Affairs, Melissa Fowler, and Plaintiff Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest’s associate medical director Dr. Thomas Moran.

• Rhomberg testified that he understood part of the original purpose of CMP’s undercover reporting was to pick up where ABC’s 20/20 expose with Chris Wallace and Connie Chung left off nearly twenty years ago in 2000.
• After multiple assertions that NAF had exhaustive and extensive screening and vetting measures in place to prevent pro-life individuals from “infiltrating” NAF meetings, Fowler admited the only “vetting” of CMP’s BioMax representatives was conversations between NAF staff and a Google search for the company. Fowler stated that even to this day, NAF does not ask potential exhibitors whether or not they are pro-choice.
• Fowler admitted that NAF’s trade show contracts, over which Planned Parenthood is trying to sue as a “third-party beneficiary”, never mention Planned Parenthood and signatories were never put on notice that Planned Parenthood would be in attendance or party to the agreements. Fowler also grudgingly acknowledged dozens of attendees at NAF’s trade shows never signed NAF’s “Confidentiality Agreement” for the meetings.
• Plaintiff Planned Parenthood Pacific Southwest’s Associate Medical Director Dr. Thomas Moran was asked about Planned Parenthood’s supply of aborted fetal body parts to Advanced Bioscience Resources (ABR):
  Q. “And as a result of abortions that would be performed there, including abortions you did, they would sometimes place a demand for certain organs; correct?”
  A. “That was certainly my understanding, yeah.”

The proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Friday, October 11, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

Planned Parenthood called two more defendants to the witness stand today, the third day of their civil jury trial in San Francisco federal court. As the case goes on, it seems increasingly clear that Planned Parenthood is hoping to manipulate the process to try to eke out a win in their thinly-veiled attack on First Amendment civil rights:

• At Planned Parenthood’s request, Judge Orrick refused to allow the Defense to show the jury the exact video conversations that Planned Parenthood is suing for. It is the jury’s job to assess whether the conversations are “private” or “confidential” under applicable state law–yet Planned Parenthood and Judge Orrick are barring the actual recordings of these conversations from the courtroom. Adrian Lopez, one of CMP’s undercover investigators, took the witness stand and was accused by Planned Parenthood of videotaping so-called “private” conversations at a National Abortion Federation trade show in Baltimore, MD, yet defense attorney Paul Jonna was not allowed to play video of the conversation itself, a graphic discussion with Plaintiff Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast leadership, to allow Lopez and CMP to defend against Planned Parenthood’s accusation. Ironically, Planned Parenthood was allowed to play multiple recordings of undercover conversations during their questioning.
• Lopez testified that he was motivated to go undercover to investigate criminal harvesting and trafficking of fetal organs and tissues in part by evidence like the online order form for fetal body parts on the website for StemExpress, the business partner of Plaintiffs Planned Parenthood Mar Monte and Planned Parenthood Northern California. “You go in there and it’s basically a custom order for fetal tissue. You put — there is a drop-down menu for gestational age. There is a drop-down menu for what type of tissues you want, quantities and so forth,” and “when I saw that there was a website where you can order it, I think that just– that kind of did it for me.” Judge Orrick refused to allow screenshots of the StemExpress order form to be shown to the jury.
• When defense attorney Paul Jonna attempted to merely question the witness about a StemExpress training document showing the bonus structure for different types of fetal body parts, Judge Orrick cut off the line of questioning, invoking Planned Parenthood’s attorney Amy Bomse: “Sustained. The objection that Ms. Bomse was about to make by standing up is sustained.” Bomse never made an objection–all she did was stand up.

The proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Thursday, October 10, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

CMP investigator Sandra Merritt took the stand for most of day 2 of the civil trial in San Francisco after a Planned Parenthood Plaintiff-Affiliate CEO was cross-examined by defense lawyers:

• During Day 1 of the trial, Planned Parenthood lawyers peppered Jenna Tosh, CEO of Planned Parenthood California Central Coast, with questions about NAF and Planned Parenthood conference security. Today, defense lawyers cross-examined Tosh about her assertions that the Planned Parenthood conferences CMP investigators attended had “stringent” and “impressive” screening procedures. Tosh backtracked under oath and admitted she has no first-hand knowledge of the actual security or screening protocols undertaken at each conference as it relates to vendors like CMP’s undercover subsidiary BioMax Procurement Services, LLC.
• Sandra Merritt took the stand for most of the day and Planned Parenthood questioned Merritt extensively about her involvement in the undercover videos. Merritt reaffirmed multiple times that she accepted the job working on the undercover project to investigate violet crimes committed by Planned Parenthood and others in the fetal trafficking industry.
• When Merritt’s attorney Horatio Mihet began to ask Merritt questions about what she had learned from information provided by StemExpress/Planned Parenthood Mar Monte whistleblower Holly O’Donnell, Judge Orrick paused the proceedings, ordered the jury to take a break, and instructed Mihet not to continue the line of questioning. When Merritt later began to describe learning about the Langendorff perfusion device used to keep a living heart beating outside the body, and its requirements to cut a beating heart out of a fetus, Judge Orrick cut off Merritt’s answer.

Proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Tuesday, October 8, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

On October 3, federal civil jury trial began in Planned Parenthood’s retaliatory lawsuit against The Center for Medical Progress, with opening statements on behalf of each of the co-defendants. Highlights included:

• Judge Orrick instructed the 12-member jury that the case “is not about the truth of whether plaintiffs profited rom the sale of fetal tissue or otherwise violated the law in securing tissue for those programs,” and that, “Those issues are a matter of dispute between the parties in the world outside this courtroom.”
• Planned Parenthood’s lead trial lawyer told the jury in opening statement that this case is about an attempt to “destroy” Planned Parenthood using “any means.”
• Harmeet Dhillon, counsel for CMP and its undercover subsidiary BioMax Procurement Services, LLC, stated, “What this case is really about is the story of what happens when a powerful, large corporation gets a little negative publicity that it doesn’t like and responds by hitting back at a small start-up company and a handful of individuals, who are the defendants in this case.”
• Charles LiMandri of Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, representing David Daleiden, explained that before David went public with the information in CMP’s undercover videos, “he took it to law enforcement, over ten separate contacts with law enforcement and public officials within a one-year period.”
• Paul Jonna, also with FCDF, representing CMP undercover investigator Adrian Lopez, told the jury, “This case is about undercover reporting, the First Amendment, the rights of ordinary citizens to expose unethical and potentially illegal conduct on the part of large and powerful corporations.”
• Horatio Mihet of Liberty Counsel, on behalf of CMP undercover investigator Sandra Merritt, told the jury that “as difficult as it was for Ms. Merritt to hear that evidence [of violent crimes in fetal organ harvesting], she will tell you that she just couldn’t ignore it. She believed that the public had a right to know what Planned Parenthood and others in the abortion industry were doing.”

Proceedings continue at 8 A.M. on Friday, October 4, in San Francisco Federal District Court at 450 Golden Gate Ave, San Francisco, CA 94102, in Courtroom 2 on Floor 17.

After six days of top Planned Parenthood doctors and abortion industry-big wigs making shocking admissions on the witness stand, the California Attorney General’s office has finally rested in their baseless case against CMP investigators David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt. Today’s questioning of Planned Parenthood’s Dr. Doe 10 and CA DOJ Agent Cardwell yielded big revelations:

• In the lunch meeting with Daleiden and Merritt, Doe 10 discusses a “less crunchy” technique to get more whole fetal specimens. When asked by Defense what she meant, Doe 10 said she meant switching between electric vacuum vs manual suction syringe to harvest intact fetal tissue.
• Doe 10 testified yesterday she expected the lunch meeting to be private, yet after prompting by Defense today about communicating her expectation of privacy to parties involved at luncheon, Doe 10 said she never did.
• Defense counsel showed Doe 10 several clips in which she continued her conversation in front of restaurant wait staff, and then asked Doe 10 if she lowered her voice, changed the subject, or paused. Doe 10 said she did not.
• Special Agent Cardwell, the lead investigator on the AG’s case, indicated his focus was finding “potential victims” for the AG’s office to include in prosecution as he was tasked, not investigating the elements of the California recording law.
• Defense attorneys asked Agent Cardwell if he watched all of the CMP undercover videos being used as evidence by the AG’s office to prosecute David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, and he said he didn’t. Defense asked how he could have conducted thorough investigation if he didn’t watch all of the Does’ videos. He responded he was only looking to identify “potential victims” for the AG’s case.
• The California recording law, PC 632, defines “confidential communication” to exclude “any other circumstance in which the parties to the communication may reasonably expect that the communication may be overheard or recorded.” When questioned if he asked Does 6, 7, 11, 13, 14 if they could be overheard, Agent Cardwell said he never asked the Does that question.
• When presenting evidence to judge for AG’s arrest warrant against Daleiden and Merritt, the warrant affidavit did not mention Doe’s 5 statement to Agent Cardwell that she could be overheard or the public setting in which Doe 4 was recorded (elevator and hotel lobby) or explain how these circumstances hold up against CA Penal Code 632.
• Agent Cardwell admitted that in the course of his investigation for the AG’s office he never visited the Westin St. Francis hotel where the 2014 National Abortion Federation annual meeting and the recordings of Does 1 through 8 took place.
• Agent Cardwell testified that when he took statements from the Does in his investigation for the AG’s office, he did not check their claims of “confidentiality” against the elements of the California recording law.
• Deputy Attorney General Johnette Jauron, the lead prosecutor on the case, objected that the CA recording law PC 632 has no definition of confidentiality, to audible laughter in the courtroom. In reality, PC 632 defines “confidential communication” in subsection (c).

Proceedings will continue at 9:00 A.M. on Friday, September 13, in Department 10 of the San Francisco Superior Court, 850 Bryant St, San Francisco, CA 94103.