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California Authorities Seize Planned Parenthood Footage In Apartment Raid

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Rachel Stoltzfoos Staff Reporter
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California authorities raided pro-life activist David Daleiden’s home Tuesday and confiscated all of the Planned Parenthood footage he obtained during an undercover project designed to expose the group’s dealings in fetal tissue.

Armed with a search warrant, investigators from the California Department of Justice searched Daleiden’s Orange County apartment and left with a laptop and multiple hard drives, reported The Washington Post. The laptop and hard drives contained all the footage Daleiden filmed over a period of more than two years as part of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) project, including unreleased footage Daleiden called “very damning.”

California Attorney General Kamala Harris is heading up an investigation into Daleiden, after he published a series of videos showing top Planned Parenthood doctors discussing the ins and outs of harvesting aborted fetuses so their parts can be sent to medical researchers. CMP alleges Planned Parenthood is illegally profiting from the exchange of the parts.

“ALERT: The California Attorney General’s office, led by Kamala Harris, Planned Parenthood supported with thousands of dollars, is now searching David’s apartment,” CMP said on its Facebook page Tuesday afternoon. Later that night, Daleiden posted a statement through a post on the page confirming the news, calling the search and seizure a violation of his First Amendment rights.

“This is no surprise–Planned Parenthood’s bought-and-paid-for AG has steadfastly refused to enforce the law against the baby body parts traffickers in our state, or even investigate them–while at the same time doing their bidding to harass and intimidate citizen journalists,” Daleiden said in the statement. “We will pursue all remedies to vindicate our First Amendment rights.”

Daleiden was indicted earlier this year in Texas as a result of an investigation into the videos for allegedly using a fake driver’s license to gain access to Planned Parenthood. State investigations into CMP’s allegations that Planned Parenthood is illegally profiting from the sale of fetus parts have turned up nothing so far, although the House of Representatives is conducting an ongoing investigation into the videos.

“To storm into a private citizen’s home with a search warrant is outrageously out of proportion for the type of crime alleged,” former Arizona federal prosecutor Matt Heffron, a legal adviser to Daleiden, said in an emailed statement Tuesday. “It’s a discredit to law enforcement, an oppressive abuse of government power.”

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