A temporary restraining order has been issued against the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) which prohibits the group from releasing any future videos which include leaders of StemExpress, the biotech company that receives fetal body parts from Planned Parenthood; however additional videos have been turned over to the Texas Attorney General’s office in conjunction with their investigation of Planned Parenthood.
According to The Blaze, the pro-life group is prohibited from releasing any video shot during a luncheon discussion in May which shows a Planned Parenthood doctor discussing the procurement and sale of fetal body parts until after an August 19 hearing.
The ruling is very narrow and applies only to footage shot during the luncheon; it is not yet clear what impact this will have on the release of future tapes.
The CMP issued the following response to the court order:
“StemExpress, a for-profit company partnered with over 30 abortion clinics, including Planned Parenthood, to harvest and sell aborted baby parts and provide a “financial benefit” to Planned Parenthood clinics, is attempting to use meritless litigation to cover-up this illegal baby parts trade, suppress free speech, and silence the citizen press reporting on issues of burning concern to the American public. They are not succeeding—their initial petition was rejected by the court, and their second petition was eviscerated to a narrow and contingent order about an alleged recording pending CMP’s opportunity to respond.
“The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of our investigative journalism work and will contest all attempts from Planned Parenthood and their allies to silence our First Amendment rights and suppress investigative journalism.”
However, more tapes have been released by the CMP to the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton who says they are “consistent” with those that have been released thus far.
During testimony in the Texas State House, Paxton gave a grisly description of what he saw during a tour of a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic.
The following are excerpts from his testimony:
“Our investigators are working across Texas to gather information and evidence relevant to the case. Last week, after a meeting at a Houston Planned Parenthood clinic, officials there invited our team to take a look around, including a stop at what they call the ‘POC Room.’ POC stands for ‘Products of Conception.’ There, lab technicians receive the remains of aborted children – also known as ‘the products’ – which are washed, examined, bagged, refrigerated, accumulated and every week taken away by a contractor that burns their bodies as medical waste.
“As my staffers watched, a technician took an aborted child from a jar, rinsed it in a colander, and placed the body parts in a tray. Fingers and toes, exceptionally tiny but fully-formed, were clearly visible. The remains were eventually deposited in a red plastic bag, about the size of an average grocery sack. According to the people at the facility, they average at least 260 pounds of “medical waste” a week, every week. . . .
“Even if their body parts are never sold, or never used for research, for the babies who are killed in abortion clinics – more than 54,000 last year in Texas and more than 57 million in the United States since 1973 – their fate is a plastic bag in a refrigerator, and anonymous disposal in an incinerator somewhere.
“For us, when we pass on, our bodies will be treated with reverence and respect, even those of us who choose to donate our remains to science. Even the remains of our most vicious criminals are treated with respect. For the children who never had a chance at life, however, they become so-called medical waste, or – alternatively – a commodity to be bargained for. Neither fate is an appropriate end for any human being.
“At a minimum, the people involved project a cold, calculating, almost inhuman indifference to the lives they treat as a product they’re attempting to sell. At worst, they may represent a violation of state and federal laws. My office will continue to investigate these issues, and – if necessary – we will seek to bring any Texans that might be involved to justice.”
He went on to clarify that his office is in possession of more videos. “Over the past several days, there have been reports that my office, as part of our investigation, has gained possession of hours of video recordings involving a Texas branch of Planned Parenthood. These reports are accurate. I cannot go into detail about these recordings at this time, but they appear to be consistent with other videos that have been released regarding Planned Parenthood.”
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