Planned Parenthood videos rock abortion business

A little of two years ago the abortion industry was shaken by the public revelations that it had been illegally trafficking in the sale of the body parts of aborted babies. As a result, over 25 states have voted to defund Planned Parenthood and the U.S. Congress, with the support of the president, is close to doing so as well. I have had the privilege of representing David Daleiden, the young man who courageously brought to light these atrocities of Planned Parenthood and its cohorts in the abortion industry. In retaliation, they have viciously attacked him in the liberal media and in three lawsuits they filed in state and federal court.

Charles S. LiMandri, Esq.

The first lawsuit was brought in state court in Los Angeles by Stem Express, the largest broker of aborted baby body parts in the country. We were successful in getting the case dismissed. The second lawsuit was brought in federal court in San Francisco by the National Abortion Federation (NAF), the abortion industry’s powerful trade association. It soon became clear that the federal judge in that case, a proabortion Obama appointee, was leaning heavily toward NAF. At that point, Planned Parenthood jumped on board and filed its own suit against Daleiden, which is now also pending before the same federal judge. That judge, William Orrick, had previously helped establish one of the Planned Parenthood affiliates that is presently suing Daleiden, inside the offices of a nonprofit in San Francisco, while he served as an attorney on its board. As I write this article, our motion to disqualify him from that case for apparent bias is pending.

In the meantime, Planned Parenthood helped orchestrate a bogus criminal indictment of Daleiden in Houston, Texas, with the assistance of a pro-abortion assistant district attorney. Fortunately, that ill-conceived case has also been dismissed. Not to be outdone, the then-pro-abortion attorney general in California, Kamala Harris, used her office to initiate another politically motivated prosecution of Daleiden, and his nonprofit — the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). That action is still pending. CMP’s separate criminal defense attorneys recently released additional videos of abortionists revealing details of their heinous activities in selling baby body parts. In response, Judge Orrick found them, Daleiden and CMP, in contempt of court for violating his preliminary injunction blocking the release of those incriminating videos.

That contempt order is on appeal to the Ninth Circuit, and the preliminary injunction is on appeal to the United States Supreme Court. At issue in those appeals are important Constitutional rights including the First Amendment freedom of speech. Also at issue are the common and necessary practices used by investigative journalists to uncover the criminal activities of bad actors like those suing Daleiden. Indeed, the United States House of Representatives’ Select Committee on Infant Lives has already extensively investigated their practices and referred Planned Parenthood and Stem Express to the FBI and the Justice Department for further investigation and prosecution.

The videos give proof to the lie that what abortionists are removing is not just a “clump of cells.” Rather, what they are seeking to harvest are well-developed fetal organs like hearts, lungs, livers, and brains. Obviously, this also gives proof to the lie that this is not just about what a woman chooses to do with her own body. Rather, it is not the organs of the woman’s body that are being harvested, but those of the separate living human being inside of her. The videos further graphically illustrate how the abortion industry is big business and the abortionists are most interested in maximizing their “bottom line,” even if it means engaging in immoral practices that violate the law and our human dignity.

Please make sure that your congressmen and senators in Washington hear from you about the necessity of defunding Planned Parenthood’s half-billion of your tax dollars per year. And please pray for the ultimate success of David Daleiden and CMP as they defend themselves against the attacks of an increasingly desperate abortion industry, backed by an army of lawyers

Attorney CHARLES S. LIMANDRI is a past member of the Legatus board of directors and a recipient of the Legatus “Ambassador of the Year” award. He is the president and chief counsel of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund (www.FCDFlegal.org).