This Friday on the heels of House Republicans voting to defund Planned Parenthood, a U.S. District Court in California ruled that the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress must turn over evidence it planned to withhold, The Hill reported.
The ruling comes after a 2-week fight over the group’s secret videos which CMP founder David Daleiden has been withholding, saying he planned to plead the 5th in order to protect his organization from self-incrimination.
Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress made headlines earlier this year after releasing 10 undercover videos which claim to show Planned Parenthood employees illegally selling fetal tissue. The videos have come under intense scrutiny, with Planned Parenthood and pro-choice groups alleging that they are heavily edited, taking PP employees’ words out of context.
The CMP gained access to PP employees by posing as buyers for a medical research company, a tactic which Planned Parenthood and its supporters claim is illegal.
“It’s telling that the defendants have been very vocal in the media saying that they have nothing to hide, yet in Federal court they want to plead the Fifth,” Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, said about the ruling. “We are pleased with the results of today’s hearing, and are eager to move forward with the discovery process.”
“Our priority is the safety and security of our members, their staff, their patients, and their families,” she addd. “Moving forward with discovery will help us take steps to ensure our members’ safety during this period of escalating hate speech, threats, and criminal activity.”
The Center for Medical Progress maintains that it acted legally while filming the undercover videos.
Featured image via YouTube
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