Abortionists forfeit public funding by breaking law, court confirms

It's no small change – some $500 million or more annually – but abortionists at Planned Parenthood view that tax funding each year as an entitlement.

Taxpayers and many members of Congress who oppose abortion disagree, pointing to a 2015 undercover video probe exposing Planned Parenthood's trade in baby body parts.

And that's why the abortionists have filed lawsuits against the investigators and their organization, the Center for Medical Progress, or CMP.

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A legal team defending CMP is pointing to a decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals as a significant development.

The court allowed Texas to drop Planned Parenthood from its Medicaid funding program.

The decision followed a call by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to stop public funding of Planned Parenthood.

The ruling also shattered the claim that the tapes were selectively edited. And it confirmed that Planned Parenthood associates circumvented legal and ethical guidelines in pursuit of harvesting human organs.

The American Center for Law & Justice, which is defending CMP and its founder, David Daleiden, explained  the state had determined there was a "record of incriminating admissions" by Planned Parenthood, and that the decision to drop the company from a list of fund recipients was based on evidence.

"The Fifth Circuit’s decision should positively impact the ongoing California cases," the analysis explained. "One of the plaintiffs in those cases is PPGC [Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast], the key abortion provider in the Texas case. PPGC has claimed in the California case that it is an innocent victim of a CMP 'smear campaign,' and yet the House and Senate investigations, and the Texas OIG’s investigation, concluded otherwise," it said.

"The Fifth Circuit’s decision also refutes the claim, made by the California plaintiffs, that the countless incriminating statements recorded by CMP can be chalked up to deceptive video editing. (This false accusation is further defeated by the fact that, when CMP released its shorter summary videos, it also released full-length footage of the relevant conversations)," the group said.

"Additionally, the Fifth Circuit’s decision is helpful in the nationwide fight over the ability of federal and state legislatures and executive branch agencies to minimize or eliminate taxpayer funding for abortion providers. In particular, there have been numerous lawsuits involving the interpretation of federal Medicaid program standards, and one key issue is the extent to which a state agency may cut a Medicaid provider off from funding due to its illegal or unethical actions. The Fifth Circuit’s decision reinforces the commonsense conclusion that a provider can forfeit Medicaid provider eligibility – and potentially millions of taxpayer dollars – by engaging in illegal or unethical acts," ACLJ said.

The organization said that as a result of the ruling, an order by a lower court judge protecting Planned Parenthood money was thrown out.

ACLJ is representing Troy Newman, a former CMP board member who also heads Operation Rescue, in California in lawsuits filed by those linked to the National Abortion Federation, PP and others.

"These cases seek to keep CMP’s evidence out of the public eye, and to deter future investigations of abortion providers’ illegal acts," the report said.

But the evidence, it said, has prompted investigations by the United States Senate and House of Representatives into the "illegal, unethical, and immoral practices within the abortion and fetal tissue procurement industries. The resulting House Report and Senate Report contain shocking, first-hand evidence of unconscionable criminal and illegal actions by abortion providers and fetal tissue procurement companies. The reports contain, among other things, evidence of profiting from the sale of fetal organs (including the payment of bonuses for procuring organs that were highly sought after by researchers), altering abortion procedures for financial gain, performing illegal partial-birth abortions, killing newborns who survived attempted abortions, failing to obtain informed consent for fetal tissue donations, and fraudulent overbilling practices."

ACLJ said the congressional investigators "asked various law enforcement and regulatory bodies to investigate the offending organizations for possible criminal prosecution."

"As a result, the Department of Justice has been reportedly investigating Planned Parenthood, several other abortion providers, and fetal tissue procurement companies. Additionally, a $7.8 million court settlement was filed in California under which DaVinci Biosciences, LLC and DV Biologics, LLC admitted liability for their role in the unlawful sale of fetal tissue and stem cells for profit."

In the Texas case, the House sent evidence it had gathered about potentially illegal and unethical acts by Planned Parenthood.

State investigators found "at a minimum" that the abortionists violated federal standards.

The abortionists deviated "from accepted standards to procure samples that meet researcher[s'] needs," permitted "staff physicians to alter procedures to obtain targeted tissue samples needed for their specific outside research," and allowed "researchers themselves to perform the procedures."

The state terminated the agreements to fund Planned Parenthood affiliates because of their actions.

WND reported that as part of the lawsuits against CMP, many abortion-industry executives are being required to submit to depositions.

The Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund, another legal teams involved in the cases, described the coming depositions as "an unprecedented opportunity" for those who oppose abortion to get information about "the abortion giant's illegal selling of baby parts."

A trial is scheduled next September, but before the end of April Daleiden's lawyers are to interview under oath Deb VanDerhei, national director, consortium of abortion providers, PPFA; Deb Nucatola of Planned Parenthood; Mary Gatter, PPFA; Melissa Farrell, PP Gulf Coast; Ellen Gertzog, PPFA; Savita Ginde, PP Rocky Mountains; and Tram Nguyen, PP Gulf Coast.

A video showed Nucatola admitting she alters abortion techniques to procure intact fetal organs, even though the law doesn't allow it.

Several of the videos have been suppressed by an abortion-linked judge that contain more information about the National Abortion Federation.

But here are two of the videos that were released by CMP: