A jury in San Francisco is deliberating over the case filed by Planned Parenthood against the pro-life activists whose videos exposed the abortion industry’s profiting from the sale of baby body parts.
The abortionists demanded the pro-lifers be punished with millions of dollars in damages, so the jury decision is not expected for a couple of days.
One of the defendants, Operation Rescue President Troy Newman, was sued as a board member for the Center for Medical Progress, which released the videos created mostly by David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt.
Newman noted a Planned Parenthood executive was shown in a video explaining higher profits could be obtained by crushing an unborn baby above and below the organs sought by researchers. Another, discussing the profits from the trade, said, “I want a Lamborghini.”
Newman explained that Planned Parenthood hired Fusion GPS to “discredit” the videos with allegations they are “highly edited” and launched a publicity campaign claiming Planned Parenthood “does not sell baby parts, babies are not born alive during abortions, and abortion procedures are not modified to get better fetal body parts.”
However, Newman noted that near the end of the trial, Planned Parenthood dropped all demands for reputational damages.
“No evidence was provided to show that the videos were altered in any way,” he said. “Fusion GPS was never called to testify – because their so-called forensic analysis of the videos was a fraud, just like the fake Steele Dossier that it manufactured to smear President Donald J. Trump.”
Newman said Planned Parenthood presented no evidence that “they did not kill babies in order to harvest and sell their remains.”
“In fact, the contrary happened. Experts from ’tissue procurement companies’ were brought in and testified they still have contracts with Planned Parenthood to buy brains, livers, lungs, and other ’tissue.’ Stem Express is still very much in bed with the baby killers at Planned Parenthood. Planned Parenthood never once refuted the claim that abortion methods were altered in order to get more intact specimens.”
Another attorney representing Merritt, Harry Mihet of Liberty Counsel, asked the jury to consider why Merritt, a grandmother, could not simply ignore allegations about the abortion industry.
“The answer you heard from her is simple, and yet profound: her conscience would not let her forget the things that she learned about the trafficking of human organs,” he said.
“Ms. Merritt could not forget the evil laughter of Dr. Miles Jones in the 20/20 video, who likened the human fetus to a ‘golden goose’ and bragged about the obscene amounts of money he made in selling human fetuses piece by piece.
“Ms. Merritt could not forget the inconsolable weeping of Cindy Smith, the mother of twins in that 20/20 video, who was never asked to consent to the selling for profit of her unborn twins’ body parts,” Mihet said.
“Nor could Ms. Merritt ignore the head of fetal tissue purchaser and Planned Parenthood partner ABR, who admitted in that 20/20 video that ABR gave its abortion provider partners manual syringes to maximize the dollar value of the human organs they obtained from patients, knowing full well that using manual syringes prolonged the abortion procedure by as much as 15 minutes.
“Nor could Ms. Merritt forget learning about the Stanford study involving human hearts procured by StemExpress – another Planned Parenthood partner – and hooked up to Langendorff Perfusions,” said Mihet.
“Nor could she forget the absolute horror when she learned from Mr. Daleiden and Dr. Deisher that Langendorff Perfusions ONLY WORK ON HEARTS THAT ARE STILL BEATING, meaning that they must have been taken out of born alive human beings.”
Mihet told jurors “these truths” are difficult to hear, but “they should be difficult to hear, because we do not want to become a society where these kinds of things can be uncovered, heard and then swept under the rug and ignored.”
The CMP investigation was sparked a video in a 2000 report by the ABC News show “20/20.”
See the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mltRMb5GDKE&feature=youtu.be
In the segment, Chris Wallace says a “hidden camera investigation has found a thriving industry, in which aborted fetuses women donate to help medical research are being marketed for hundreds – even thousands of dollars.”
The so-called consent obtained from the women, ABC said, is filled with “legal mumbo jumbo,” meaning the women sign without knowing their babies will be sold for research.
WND reported a possible “game-changer” in the case happened, when, for the first time, jurors were allowed to see a portion of the CMP videos.
The videos caused a furor that caught the attention of lawmakers. California regulators shut down businesses that had been buying body parts, and two congressional committees referred companies and individuals for possible prosecution. The committees cited a federal law that bans profiting from the sale of body parts.
Judge William Orrick is hearing the case under a cloud. He was on the board of a community organization and negotiated a no-fee lease for Planned Parenthood in the community center he helped run.
The judge previously refused the request of defendants to recuse himself from the case because of his conflict of interest. At trial, he repeatedly has prevented evidence helpful to the defendants from being admitted.
Here are two of the videos released by CMP:
One of the videos that has been suppressed by Orrick includes more information about the body-parts industry.
It was available only briefly online.
However, transcripts of comments by abortion executives have been preserved.
Lisa Harris, medical director for Planned Parenthood of Michigan: “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.
In December 2015, the Senate Judiciary Committee and the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives referred the Planned Parenthood Federation of American and six regional affiliates to the Department of Justice for criminal investigation.
Operation Rescue noted little attention was given to the issue under President Obama, but after Donald Trump moved into office, the investigations “appeared to show signs of life.”
See a CMP video about Planned Parenthood skirting federal law:
The “Lamborghini” executive:
Paying attention to who’s in the room when infants are born alive:
Altering abortion procedures:
Selling body parts a “valid exchange”: