SAN FRANCISCO, California, October 14, 2019 (LifeSiteNews) — Planned Parenthood’s lawyers tried to paint the undercover investigators who exposed its trafficking in aborted baby body parts as liars and frauds bent on endangering abortionists during recent testimony in its ongoing civil trial against the Center for Medical Progress (CMP).
Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) brought the retaliatory suit after CMP released undercover videos in 2015 exposing the abortion giant’s trafficking in aborted baby body parts. Planned Parenthood is arguing the pro-life investigators illegally recorded confidential conversations with its staff.
PPFA and 10 affiliates are now accusing CMP of committing wiretapping, conspiracy, trespassing, breach of contract, and violating the Racketeer-Influenced Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) for going undercover at Planned Parenthood and National Abortion Federation meetings, and are seeking damages in potentially millions of dollars.
CMP project lead David Daleiden, undercover investigators Sandra Merritt and Geraldo Adrian Lopez, and founding board members Albin Rhomberg and Troy Newman of Operation Rescue are named in the suit.
In the trial’s second week, Melissa Fowler, the vice president of external relations for the National Abortion Federation (NAF), testified October 11 about the NAF’s secret annual conventions, which Daleiden and Merritt attended as exhibitors in 2014 and 2015, posing as Robert Sarkis and Susan Tennenbaum of BioMax.
Shortly after CMP began publishing the videos, which included damning footage from the 2014 NAF San Francisco conferences of abortionists discussing, among other things, their willingness to alter abortion techniques to obtain intact baby parts, NAF filed a lawsuit against CMP with Judge Willaim Orrick. Orrick issued an injunction banning publication of any footage from NAF conferences, which remains in force. The NAF lawsuit is currently in abeyance.
Defense lawyers asked Orrick before the jury entered the courtroom that Fowler be allowed to testify only about the NAF convention security measures, not why they were in place, but Orrick overruled that objection.
Fowler then testified that NAF conventions were so secret participants were told not to mention the location to anyone outside NAF and turn off their cellphone location services while attending, because, she said, “if someone wanted to really devastate abortion access in this country, they could do something to that conference, and there would be, you know, many of the doctors that provide this service all in one space and they could be harmed at one time.”
She also testified that all NAF conference participants are required to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose what takes place at the conventions to anyone outside NAF, in order to create a “safe space” for those attending.
Planned Parenthood’s illegal recording claims rely, in part, on the assertion that all conversations that happen at their abortion industry meetings are confidential – even if they can be overheard by other attendees – because everyone who attends is heavily vetted and verified to ensure that all attendees are of one mind.
However, on cross-examination, Fowler admitted NAF had not purchased up-to-date identification scanners even though, as the defense pointed out, there had been previous undercover exposés of the abortion industry, such as those conducted by Live Action and a 20/20 investigation in 2000 into fetal organ harvesting.
Defense lawyer Vladimir Kozina pointed out that 43 and 31 confidentiality agreements were unaccounted for from the 2014 and 2015 NAF conferences respectively. Fowler admitted that she based her assertion that only those who sign a confidentiality agreement are granted admittance on the fact that it was a policy, not that she actually knew everyone signed the confidentiality agreement.
In fact, she admitted that Daleiden had not signed the agreement for at least one of the conferences he attended.
Fowler also conceded on cross-examination that the confidentiality agreement was not intended to conceal criminal activity.
Defense is arguing the CMP undercover journalists believed Planned Parenthood was committing infanticide and partial-birth abortion among other crimes in its trade in aborted baby parts. The law allows the covert taping of conversations for an investigation of violent felonies against the person.
Fowler asserted in her testimony that “it’s a lie to say Planned Parenthood sells baby parts” but admitted on cross-examination her statement was based on conversations with Planned Parenthood personnel.
Thomas Moran, an abortionist at Planned Parenthood of the Pacific Southwest (PPPSW) testified October 11 and 12 as the fifth witness for the plaintiffs.
He and Sean Nguyan, also an abortionist at PPPSW, were the subject of a five-minute video CMP produced from Daleiden’s secret recordings of the 2015 Planned Parenthood Medical Directors Conferences (MeDC). It has not been published.
Moran testified security measures at the MeDC conferences included registering, an ID check on arrival, and a badge worn while in the conference rooms.
These were required to ensure a “secure private place” for abortionists, because abortion is an “emotionally charged issue.”
He said he felt “anxious” and “afraid” after CMP video came out that he would be identified on the internet as an abortion provider, as would Nguyen, who, Moran said, hadn’t told some members of his family he worked for Planned Parenthood.
However, Moran admitted on cross-examination by Charles LiMandri that a quick Google search reveals that not only is Moran an abortionist, but that he was sued in 2004 for a surgical procedure performed at Planned Parenthood. LiMandri also pointed out that Nguyen is identified online as an abortionist.
Moran admitted in testimony Friday that he signed a public online petition of abortionists who pledged to take a strong stand in support of abortion.
He also admitted on cross-examination that an unpublished video shows him approaching Daleiden and volunteering the information that there was demand for baby livers from the organ harvesting company Advanced Bioscience Research, which worked with Planned Parenthood.
“I said liver. But whether it was actually – they wanted a liver or a kidney or a – I don't know, intestines, I'm not really – never got really privy to the list they were looking for,” Moran said.
In the video, he asked Daleiden if BioMax would be able to take the “buckets” of biowaste, that included aborted baby parts, that were generated at the Planned Parenthood abortion center. Moran insisted on cross-examination that “only a very small portion” of the biowaste “is embryonic tissue.”