Planned Parenthood supporters are doing a victory lap Tuesday after news broke that a Texas investigation into the non-profit over fetal tissue dealings exposed by the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) resulted in the indictment of the top CMP figures behind the videos.
Here are five points regarding the indictment the mainstream media won’t bother to point out.
It’s not surprising Planned Parenthood was cleared of all wrongdoing.
News of the indictment shocked the pro-life world, but it’s not surprising that Planned Parenthood was cleared of wrongdoing. A number of states have investigated and cleared Planned Parenthood already, including Massachusetts, Indiana and Georgia.
More importantly, while some of the videos seem to support CMP’s felony allegations, they don’t prove Planned Parenthood is profiting from the sale of aborted fetuses. And the law the allegations hinge upon is so squishy, one medical ethicist concluded: “It appears to be legal, no matter how much you charge.” (RELATED: Planned Parenthood Allegations Turn On Squishy McConnell-Backed Law)
One of the prosecutors sits on Planned Parenthood’s board of directors.
One of the prosecutors for the Harris County District Attorney’s office that investigated Planned Parenthood revealed last year she sits on the board of directors of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. District Attorney Devon Anderson said at the time her employee Lauren Reeder’s affiliation with Planned Parenthood would not affect their ability to conduct an “unbiased, fact-driven” investigation.
David Daleiden is not being indicted for doctoring the videos.
Daleiden was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record because he allegedly used a fake California drivers license with the intent to defraud Planned Parenthood, and on a misdemeanor charge of attempting to purchase human organs. His fellow undercover reporter Sandra Merritt was also charge with tampering with a governmental record.
The “highly edited” claim is bogus.
The widespread conception that Daleiden doctored or highly edited the undercover videos is a Planned Parenthood talking point picked up and repeated without question by many media outlets.
Planned Parenthood commissioned a forensic analysis of the videos in August, ostensibly to back up the claim, but the Democratic opposition-research firm it hired concluded the videos were not “substantively” edited. A second forensic analysis commissioned by the conservative Christian non-profit Alliance Defending Freedom in September also concluded the videos are not substantively edited.
The content of the videos will stand no matter how the indictment plays out.
Daleiden is being indicted for the way he obtained the footage, which has not been doctored, so the content of the footage will stand regardless of how the indictment plays out. Whether Daleiden used a fake drivers license to obtain the footage ultimately doesn’t change the reality of the disturbing conversations, which most people who have actually viewed the footage acknowledge.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified the commissioner of a second forensic analysis as the National Right to Life. The analysis was commissioned by Alliance Defending Freedom.
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