Newly released footage of the 2014 and 2015 National Abortion Federation trade shows reveal abortionists discussing the difficulties they face in their jobs, such as “the head that gets stuck that we can’t get out,” and “an eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross!”
The video, published to YouTube on Wednesday, is the work of Center for Medical Progress leader David Daleiden who, along with co-defendant Sandra Merritt, has been charged with 15 felony counts under California’s law protecting “confidential” conversations.
Daleiden’s criminal defense attorneys say the California Attorney General’s interest in his case is “entirely political, meant to manipulate the law to do the bidding of their benefactors at Planned Parenthood.”
Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Steve Cooley & Associates (SCA) are defending Daleiden, the journalist who released the series of videos in 2015 that shocked the nation as they brought attention to the fetal tissue procurement industry.
The undercover investigation led to congressional probes into allegations that Planned Parenthood sells the body parts of babies aborted in its clinics for a profit, and to vehement cries for the elimination of Planned Parenthood’s taxpayer funding.
Cooley and former Los Angeles County Deputy District Attorney Brentford J. Ferreira are launching a new media resource page that features all the filings in the case against Daleiden and all the videos mentioned by the California AG in their complaint, including those that have never been seen before.
In the new video, which is a compilation of excerpts from video filmed at the trade shows, abortionist Dr. Susan Robinson of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte is heard saying, “The fetus is a tough little object and, taking it apart, I mean taking it apart on day one is very difficult.”
Dr. Lisa Harris, medical director of Planned Parenthood Michigan, is also heard saying, “Let’s just give them all the violence, it’s a person, it’s killing, let’s just give them all that.”
Director of abortion services for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Dr. Ann Schutt-Aine states in the video, “If I’m doing a procedure, and I’m seeing that I’m in fear that it’s about to come to the umbilicus [navel], I might ask for a second set of forceps to hold the body at the cervix and pull off a leg or two, so it’s not PBA [partial-birth abortion].”
SCA states the prosecution from the California AG against Daleiden is “grossly politically-motivated.”
In April of 2016, Daleiden contacted SCA immediately after agents of the AG’s office served a search warrant at his home and confiscated his computers, hard drives, and electronic documents.
“Then-Attorney General, now U.S. Sen. Kamala Harris, wielded unprecedented police power against a true American journalist while civil suits were already pending in Federal District Court concerning the same video-recordings,” says Cooley. “Public Records Act requests filed by SCA reveal the Attorney General’s real interest in this case is entirely political, meant to manipulate the law to do the bidding of their benefactors at Planned Parenthood.”
In September 2016, emails obtained by the Washington Times showed that then-California AG and U.S. Senate candidate Kamala Harris’s office collaborated with Planned Parenthood to produce legislation that specifically targeted Daleiden.
The emails, according to the Times, were accessed through a public records request, and revealed conversations between officials of Kamala’s office and Planned Parenthood regarding legislation that criminalizes undercover journalists for publishing and distributing recordings of private communications with abortion providers.
Following receipt of a preliminary injunction in a civil suit – currently on appeal – against the release of Daleiden’s videos from secretive abortion trade shows, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) and Planned Parenthood pursued the California AG to initiate a criminal investigation in order to stifle Daleiden’s undercover work even further.
On March 28, 2017, the new California Attorney General, Xavier Becerra, announced a criminal complaint charging Daleiden and Merritt with 15 felony counts against the state’s “confidentiality” legislation.
“Every video recording for which the Attorney General is charging David was obviously and unquestionably made in a public place where it could not possibly be considered ‘confidential,’” says Brent Ferreira. “The only difference between David’s conduct and that of undercover video journalists every day in the state of California is the fact that he recorded the political backers of the state’s top prosecutor.”
SCA points out that Daleiden’s accusers were listed in the complaint anonymously as Does 1 through 14. The attorneys’ request for the names of the Does was ignored, and the Attorney General later informed them their names were confidential.
“There is no protective order in place in state court that would protect the names of the Does, and David is entitled to a public defense,” SCA states.
“The First Amendment must apply equally whether you are pro-choice or pro-life,” says Ferreira, “and a publicly-accused defendant is entitled to face his accusers in a public trial. Anything less is a corrupt attempt by the Attorney General to orchestrate a star-chamber proceeding reminiscent of the witch hunts and show trials of more unenlightened eras.”
A list of the Does can be found here.
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