Planned Parenthood sued the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and Biomax Procurement Services last Thursday for producing the videos that allegedly showed the sale of foetal tissues for profit.
In filing the case, Planned Parenthood said it is seeking damages, injunction and a jury trial against CMP, Biomax, David Daleiden and others. It also seeks to bar them from "entering or attempting to enter a PPFA conference or affiliate health centre without fully disclosing their true identity, their purpose for seeking entrance, and whether they intend to take any video, audio, photographic or other recordings once inside; and filming or otherwise recording any private meeting or conversation with Plaintiffs' staff or at a Planned Parenthood affiliate health centre facility without the informed consent of all parties being recorded."
Daleiden, the CMP head, is already barred by a court from releasing footage shot at National Abortion Federation conferences of his conversations with Planned Parenthood officials about the purported sale of foetal body parts to researchers, according to Charisma News.
The report said the injunctions being asked by Planned Parenthood are "clearly prior restraints on speech," adding that the U.S. Supreme Court considers these as "the most serious and least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights."
"This is truly a case of David v. the Goliath of the abortion industry," according to Life Legal Executive Director Alexandra Snyder. "Daleiden's videos have raised legitimate questions regarding Planned Parenthood's willingness to engage in unethical and criminal conduct. Rather than addressing the substance of the message, Planned Parenthood is out to crush the messenger."
The abortion provider's yearly revenues reach $1.4 billion while the corporation has another $1.4 billion in assets.
In its lawsuit, Planned Parenthood claimed that the defendants set up Biomax as a fake company that "dishonestly held itself out as a legitimate foetal tissue procurement company."
"They created pseudonyms, manufactured fake identification, stole one woman's identity, and used a credit card with a fake name," to enter private conferences including those held by Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation.
It said the defendants wore hidden video cameras and secretly taped hundreds of hours of conversations with Planned Parenthood staffs.
