Undercover videos of Planned Parenthood executives and other abortionists discussing the profitable trade in unborn baby body parts reveal “criminal, illegal, and unethical acts,” and should be made available to law enforcement, Congress and the public, contends a new brief before the Supreme Court.
The more than a dozen videos released by the Center for Medical Progress in 2015 showed abortionists describing how they could preserve various body parts as well as whole babies for sale to fetal-tissue procurement companies.
But some of the videos, recorded at National Abortion Federation functions, were suppressed by U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who has links to Planned Parenthood and whose part in the case is being challenged on ethics grounds.
The recordings were suppressed when the NAF sued CMP and its board, which includes Troy Newman, president of the pro-life organization Operation Rescue.
The censorship of the videos now is before the high court.
In their brief, Newman’s lawyers say the concealed evidence in the videos “corroborate[s] the determination of two congressional investigations that fetal tissue procurement companies and abortion providers – many of which are NAF members and NAF conference attendees – have engaged in criminal, illegal, and unethical acts.”
The acts are not explained, even though a previous filing wrote about them, because they still are subject to the censorship order from Orrick, whose “extrajudicial affinity” for Planned Parenthood has been questioned by the courts and put filed under seal.
Further, the brief explains, an appellate court that affirmed Orrick’s censorship “ignored a $7.8 million settlement agreement reached in a lawsuit filed by the Orange County District Attorney against DaVinci Biosciences and DaVinci Biologics, which admitted it had procured aborted baby remains from Planned Parenthood for resale around the world.”
The evidence of improper behavior should be shared with regulators, law enforcement and others, the brief argues.
WND has reported both companies “must permanently close and cease all operations in the state of California … pay a settlement amount of $7,785,000 through the donation of assets and biological materials to a non-profit academic and scientific teaching institution affiliated with a major U.S. medical school, and pay $195,000 in civil penalties,” according to District Attorney Tony Rackauckas.
Committees in both houses of Congress reviewed the videos that have been released and recommended prosecutions to the FBI, which now is doing its own investigation.
Newman, represented by lawyers with the American Center for Law and Justice, said the gag order is unconstitutional because the lower courts claimed there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing in the recordings.
Explained a statement from the lawyers: “This completely ignored the two congressional investigations that found ample evidence to issue the criminal referrals. The Ninth Circuit also ignored a $7.8 million settlement agreement” against the DaVinci companies.
Cheryl Sullenger, senior vice president of Operation Rescue, said the issue of access to evidence is important.
“This case is critical and of national importance not only to our rights to free speech, but also to prevent corrupt or misguided courts from protecting criminals from prosecution by slapping an injunction on those who have evidence of their crimes,” she said.
ACLJ said the reports of the investigations in Congress “contain significant, first-hand evidence of shocking and unconscionable criminal and illegal actions by abortion providers and fetal tissue procurement companies, such as profiting from the sale of fetal organs, including through the use of a disgusting bonus structure under which employees were paid more money depending on which types of intact fetal organs they could sell to researchers, altering abortion procedures for financial gain, performing illegal partial-birth abortions, and killing newborns who survived attempted abortions.”
“Pages 8 through 22 of our petition discuss evidence of criminal and other illegal acts in detail, although many portions of the brief cannot be made available to the public, or law enforcement agencies, due to the injunction,” the ACLJ statement said. “Amazingly, the brief that NAF filed to oppose our petition completely ignores this voluminous evidence, as well as the FBI investigation and the Orange County multi-million dollar settlement.”
The new brief argues “the Ninth Circuit’s decision conflicts with decisions of this court and other circuits on matters of national importance by holding that federal courts may enjoin individuals from voluntarily sharing information concerning possible criminal, illegal, or unethical acts with federal, state, and local government investigators and the general public.”
“Longstanding public policy – as well as federalism and the separation-of-powers – dictate that individuals must be free to voluntarily share information concerning possible criminal, illegal, or unethical acts with investigative bodies so that those agencies may determine what further actions should be taken.”
‘True face of Planned Parenthood’
AÂ letter from Justice Department Assistant Attorney General for Legislative Affairs Stephen Boyd verified a criminal investigation was ongoing.
CMP founder David Daleiden said: “Over two years ago, citizen journalists at The Center for Medical Progress first caught Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors in a series of undercover videos callously and flippantly negotiating the sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, livers, and brains. Since then, two congressional investigations found even deeper wrongdoing and confirmed that Planned Parenthood Federation of America, several of their biggest affiliates, and multiple business partners broke the law in a profit-driven scheme to commodify dismembered baby body parts. It is time for public officials to finally hold Planned Parenthood and their criminal abortion enterprise accountable under the law.”
One of the videos showed an official admitting Planned Parenthood sells fully intact aborted babies.
[jwplayer RiJygVb1]
Crushing babies
In the first undercover video released by CMP, Deborah Nucatola of Planned Parenthood commented on crushing babies.
“We’ve been very good at getting heart, lung, liver, because we know that, so I’m not gonna crush that part, I’m gonna basically crush below, I’m gonna crush above, and I’m gonna see if I can get it all intact,” she said.
See the first video:
[jwplayer 7pzwagZg]
In the second video, Planned Parenthood’s Mary Gatter discussed how her compensation for organs could rise when she said, “I want a Lamborghini.”
See her comments:
[jwplayer vbPjx8h2]
The fifth video released shows Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood’s Houston clinic discussing “intact fetal cadavers.”
[jwplayer 6YZC1nO2]
The seventh video has the testimony of a Planned Parenthood worker who tapped an aborted infant’s heart and saw it start beating.
[jwplayer 5wFzwlF1]
WND reported when Orrick, censored the latest undercover video that was released.
Even news outlets not party to the case were barred from posting the video.
It was released – briefly – by defense attorneys when it was used as the basis for criminal counts filed by the pro-abortion California attorney general’s office.
The defense counsel explained it needed to be in the public domain if it was evidence in a criminal case.
But Orrick then suppressed the evidence.
WND, however, transcribed for its readers the comments of the abortion-industry figures.
Lisa Harris, medical director for Planned Parenthood of Michigan, says in the video: “Our stories don’t really have a place in a lot of pro-choice discourse and rhetoric, right? The heads that get stuck that we can’t get out. The hemorrhages that we manage.”
Susan Robinson of Planned Parenthood of Mar Monte in San Jose, California: “The fetus is a tough little object and taking it apart, I mean taking it apart, on day one is very difficult.’
Talcott Camp, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Reproductive Health Freedom Project: “I’m like oh my god! I get it! When the skull is broken, that’s really sharp. I get it, I understand why people are talking about getting that skull out, that calvarium.”
Deborah Nucatola, senior director of medical services at Planned Parenthood Federation of America: “You know, sometimes she’ll tell me she wants brain, and we’ll, you know, leave the calvarium in ’til last, and then try to basically take it, or actually, you know, catch everything, and even keep it separate from the rest of the tissue so it doesn’t get lost.”
Uta Landy, founder of the Consortium of Abortion providers for Planned Parenthood: “An eyeball just fell down into my lap, and that is gross.”
Her comment was followed by raucous laughter from the abortionists at the meeting of the National Abortion Federation, where the undercover video was taken.
The video was the work of the Center for Medical Progress, which since 2015 has released more than a dozen videos of abortionists. Most of the videos have been released to the public, but the National Abortion Federation went to court demanding that videos of its members speaking be removed from the Web.
There were other notable comments in the videos.
Ann Schutt-Aine of Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast: “If I’m doing a procedure, and I’m seeing that I’m in fear that it’s about to come to the umbilicus, 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).”
Harris again: “Given that we actually see the fetus the same, and given that we might actually both agree that there’s violence in here, ask me why I come to work every day. Let’s just give them all the violence, it’s a person, it’s killing, let’s just give them all that.”
Susan Robinson of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte: “You go in there, and you go, ‘am I getting the uterus, or the fetus? Oh good fetus. What have I got. Nothing. Let’s try again.'”
Leslie Drummond of Planned Parenthood Mar Monte: “I get a lot of ‘oohs’ and aahs’ from Stemex(press) you know, they’re wanting livers. Last week I was in Sacramento and she said, ‘I need four intact limbs’ and I said ‘you want what?'”
Paul Blumenthal, Planned Parenthood of Maryland: “I know Planned Parenthood sells a lot of stuff (fetal organs) to people.”
Deb Vanderhei of the Consortium of Abortion Providers: “But the truth is that some might want to do it for, to increase their revenues. And we can’t stop them.”
The Supreme Court earlier had to order the NAF to respond.
