(Salon) -- Planned Parenthood announced on Thursday that it’s filing suit in San Francisco civil court against the activists who created and released a series of videos falsely alleging that the healthcare provider illegally harvested and sold for profit body parts from aborted fetuses. The suit will be filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California in San Francisco.
The defendants include the so-called “Center for Medical Progress” and its associates David Daleiden, Troy Newman, Albin Rhomberg, Sandra Merritt, Gerardo Lopez and Phillip Cronin.
During a conference call with reporters, Kathy Kneer of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California repeatedly referred to the video producers as “conspirators” who plotted to egregiously smear and shut down Planned Parenthood as part of a broader anti-choice, anti-woman agenda. Among other things, the suit charges that CMP and Daleiden violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organization Act (RICO Act) by engaging in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording and trespassing.
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