Planned Parenthood Drops A Bomb On Republicans With Lawsuit Over Illegal Edited Videos

Planned Parenthood has dropped a bomb on CMP and those in the Republican Party who conspired with them produce and distribute illegal videos attacking the health care provider.

Here is how Planned Parenthood described the lawsuit that was filed in California:

The civil lawsuit that Planned Parenthood filed today in California charges anti-abortion activists with an elaborate, illegal conspiracy — one they created in order to falsely accuse Planned Parenthood of wrongdoing and ultimately block patients’ access to safe, legal abortion.

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The California-based CMP broke so many laws to manufacture their smear campaign that we couldn’t sue them for just one thing. Here are the highlights:

The lawsuit is against known anti-abortion extremists, including Daleiden, Troy Newman, Albin Rhomberg, and Sandra Merritt, as well as the front organizations they created to commit their crimes: CMP and BioMax.

The lawsuit charges that CMP, its leaders, and other co-conspirators:

– Violated the Racketeer Influence and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act;
– Violated the federal eavesdropping statute;
– Engaged in wire fraud, mail fraud, invasion of privacy, illegal secret recording, and trespassing; and
– Used a complex criminal enterprise to defraud Planned Parenthood and prevent it from providing health care.

The lawsuit asks for restitution of compensatory and punitive damages and triple damages for violation of the RICO Act, as well as attorney’s fees.

CMP responded to the lawsuit with a statement, “Planned Parenthood is under investigation by the United States Congress and multiple law enforcement agencies, while their business is drying up and the public is turning against their barbaric abortion for baby parts trade. Now they are filing a frivolous lawsuit in retaliation for CMP’s First Amendment investigative journalism that has done nothing more than tell the truth about Planned Parenthood’s lawless operations. This last-ditch move of desperation is going to expose all of the sordid dealings of the California Planned Parenthood affiliates to the light of the legal system and the public will see them for the corrupt abortion and baby body parts profiteers that they really are.”

An independent video analysis found that the CMP videos had been deceptively edited, “A video forensics expert, a television producer, an independent transcription agency, and Fusion GPS staff reviewed this material. While these analysts found no evidence that CMP inserted dialogue not spoken by Planned Parenthood staff, their review did conclude that CMP edited content out of the alleged “full footage” videos, and heavily edited the short videos so as to misrepresent statements made by Planned Parenthood representatives.”

Even the videos that the CMP touts as the “full videos” aren’t the full videos. They are edited. The producer of the Planned Parenthood videos admitted that they are a fraud.

CMP has never released the full video footage, and despite their bluster, they are now going to be forced to back up their claims. There have been multiple state-level investigations, and no evidence has been found that Planned Parenthood sold baby parts, or broke the law in any way.

The political conspiracy between CMP and Republican members of Congress. Republicans worked with the activist group and viewed the videos before they were released to the public to cook up an investigation against the health care provider.

CMP will be held accountable in court for their edited videos. The day of reckoning is coming, and Republicans may have to pay for their Planned Parenthood lies.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association