Jury Sides with Planned Parenthood, Against Undercover Video Journalists Who Exposed Alleged Fetal Trafficking
The jury in the federal civil case brought against the undercover video journalists who exposed Planned Parenthood in its alleged trafficking of the body parts of aborted babies found in favor of Planned Parenthood Friday
In the case of Planned Parenthood v. Center for Medical Progress (CMP), the jury found the pro-life journalists caused significant harm to the abortion chain with its sting video series and awarded punitive damages to the abortion chain of over $2.2 million, according to the Thomas More Society, which represented David Daleiden, who headed the CMP project.
In a statement, Daleiden said: Justice was not done today in San Francisco. While top Planned Parenthood witnesses spent six weeks testifying under oath that the undercover videos are true and Planned Parenthood sold fetal organs on a quid pro quo basis, a biased judge with close Planned Parenthood ties spent six weeks trying to influence the jury with pre-determined rulings and suppressed the video evidence, all in order to rubber-stamp Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit attack on the First Amendment. This is a dangerous precedent for citizen journalism and First Amendment civil rights across the country, sending a message that speaking truth and facts to criticize the powerful is no longer protected by our institutions.
Prior to the start of the trial, U.S. District Judge William Orrick III ruled the jury would not be allowed to consider any information Daleiden gleaned from the video recordings. According to the jury verdict form, the jury responded to the designated questions asked that it found the defendants breached the 2015 Planned Parenthood Federation of America national conference exhibitor and nondisclosure agreements. Additionally, the jury said Daleiden, Sandra Merritt, and their colleagues all committed fraud or conspired “to commit fraud through intentional misrepresentation.” The jury also found that all the defendants were in violation of the Federal Racketeer Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) or conspired to violate RICO.
