William Orrick
An appeals court has been asked to remove from an abortion case a federal judge who's partial to the abortion industry, even serving on a board of an organization that works with Planned Parenthood.
Judge William Orrick III was assigned to a lawsuit by the National Abortion Federation against David Daleiden, who released a series of undercover videos in 2015 revealing abortion-industry executives discussing their unborn-baby-body-parts-for-sale schemes.
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Daleiden's legal team has filed motion with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking that the court reassign the case to another judge.
Charles LiMandri, the chief counsel for the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, said Orrick "is an ardent supporter of abortion and Planned Parenthood, and he and his spouse have shown open hostility to David."
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"Allowing a biased judge to preside over this case is a grave injustice," he said.
FCDF and the Thomas More Society, who are defending Daleiden and CMP, argue Orrick’s relationship with Planned Parenthood explains his wholesale adoption of NAF’s and Planned Parenthood’s since-disproved theory that CMP’s investigative journalism led to widespread vigilante vandalism against them.
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"Even though that theory has been proven false – and even repudiated by Planned Parenthood – Judge Orrick has stood by it, showing that assigning a new judge is necessary to 'preserve the appearance of justice,'" the legal teams said.
"Evidence of Judge Orrick’s bias includes sitting on the board of a family planning clinic that partners with Planned Parenthood and allowing his wife to use his image to demonize David and CMP on social media, likening them to 'extremists' who incite 'domestic terrorism," the lawyers said.
LiMandri said that even "the slightest hint that the judge favors one party over another will forever taint the public's perception of the fairness of his ruling."
"This is especially so because the outcome of this case will have an enormous impact on the abortion debate," he said.
Meanwhile, Daleiden, his investigative partner Sandra Merritt and the Center for Medical Progress are asking the court to compel Planned Parenthood to provide documents about their revenues and expenses for the sale of fetal tissue.
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WND previously reported Daleiden raised questions about the "extrajudicial affinity" of Orrick for Planned Parenthood.
Orrick's "extrajudicial affinity" for Planned Parenthood, a court filing said, is underscored by the use of his image in public support of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and his "denigration" of Daleiden. The judge described Daleiden's work as "heavily edited videos by a sham organization run by extremists who will stop at nothing to deny women legal abortion services" and "domestic terrorism."
The judge's image "was not used by a stranger or other unaffiliated third party, but by Judge Orrick's own spouse, and Judge Orrick has indicated his sympathy with those public comments by accusing Defendant Daleiden of 'try[ing] to … cause real harm to human beings,' without any evidence to support that claim," the petition stated.
CMP is a citizen journalism group responsible for the undercover videos of Planned Parenthood’s top abortion doctors "callously negotiating the harvesting and sale of baby body parts."
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One of the executives said she wanted more money for the body parts because, "I want a Lamborghini."
See David Daleiden's interview with Tucker Carlson about the case:
Orrick is responsible for the prior-restraint gag order currently being appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court that censors CMP's remaining undercover footage of Planned Parenthood at the National Abortion Federation's annual meetings.
The Orange County, California, district attorney's office recently announced the settlement of a case against resellers of baby body parts.
Ordered to close down were DV Biologics and DaVinci Biosciences, two companies identified in the undercover videos.
The petition before the Ninth Circuit points out Orrick's "relationship" with the Good Samaritan Family Resource center.
Orrick was a founder and longtime officer of the organization, which now houses a Planned Parenthood operation.
One of Daleiden's videos showed an official admitting Planned Parenthood sells fully intact aborted babies.
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:
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:
The fifth video released shows Melissa Farrell of Planned Parenthood's Houston clinic discussing "intact fetal cadavers."
The seventh video has the testimony of a Planned Parenthood worker who tapped an aborted infant's heart and saw it start beating.
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.
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."
