Planned Parenthood and its allies in the abortion industry may be fighting a losing battle in their efforts to prevent videos of employees bartering over fetal body parts as attorneys general in 20 states band together to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to release the videos.
LifeSiteNews is reporting on the latest turn in the years-long fight by the abortion industry to prevent the release of undercover videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s criminal activity in the trafficking of body parts from aborted babies.
David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), who produced the videos, recently compiled a three-minute compilation of some of the banned videos which resulted in a contempt of court conviction and a $200,000 fine against CMP and two of his attorneys. Federal judge William Orrick, who previously served on the board of an organization that “partnered” with Planned Parenthood, issued the order prohibiting Daleiden from releasing any more videos. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the injunction, even though they did not fully review the case which is required when First Amendment freedoms are at stake.
This prompted a filing for write of certiorari with the Supreme Court by Daleiden’s lawyers at Life Legal Defense Foundation last month seeking a review of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision.
David Daleiden of the Center for Medical Progress
Katie Short, Life Legal’s Vice President of Legal Affairs, notes that no federal appeals court has ever upheld a gag order that was based on the alleged agreement of the parties to hide information that is of significant public interest and concern.
“Even Judge Orrick acknowledged that the public ‘has an interest in accessing the NAF materials,’” Life Legal said. “Yet he — and the Ninth Circuit in its affirmation of Orrick’s ruling — elected to protect the interests of the abortion industry over the interests of taxpayers who fund Planned Parenthood to the tune of $550 million annually.”
The top law enforcement officers in 20 states agree and filed a “friend of the court” brief with the Court arguing that they should be privy to violations of law within their jurisdictions.
Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich, who authored the amicus brief, argues for lifting Orrick’s injunction, stating that banning the videos “hampers law enforcement’s ability to effectively receive information and investigate possible civil or criminal wrongdoing,” Brnovich said.
Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin are all part of the amicus brief.
“The abortion industry went after David Daleiden for one reason: to protect the reputation it carefully cultivated in four decades of public deception,” Life Legal executive director Alexandra Snyder charged. “Our hope is that the Supreme Court will agree that First Amendment freedoms must not be extinguished to remove from public scrutiny issues of fundamental social … importance.”
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