The people behind a series of videos that have rocked Planned Parenthood may or may not also be “violent extremists,” CNN’s Alisyn Camerota said Tuesday.
Her remarks came as she interviewed David Daleiden, head of the Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life activist group that has released five secretly recorded videos showing Planned Parenthood executives discussing reimbursement for salvaging body parts from the remains of aborted children.
In response to the scandal surrounding the “disturbing” videos, Planned Parenthood and its defenders have claimed that that videos are “selectively edited.” They have also gone after the video producers, accusing them of being dangerous “right-wing extremists.”
Camerota appeared concerned Tuesday with accusations Daleiden may or may not be a violent extremist.
“David, your critics, critics of your organization I should say, say that you’re not journalists as you purport to be on your website, but rather you’re violent extremists,” she said.
“They say that you are operating under the guise of investigative reporting, but really you’re trying to shut down all Planned Parenthoods and women’s access to things like birth control and other services that they provide,” she added.
She continued, questioning whether the Center for Medical Progress has any ties to Operation Rescue, which was founded in 1986 by pro-life activist Randall Terry.
“So a couple of things there, first, number one, I’m not a violent person, and I never have been, and I never will be,” Daleiden responded, adding that Operation Rescue’s current president, Troy Newman, is indeed on the board of the Center for Medical Progress.
“[A]nd Troy Newman is the president of Operation Rescue that does have, I mean, Operation Rescue does have a history of threatening violence against abortion clinics,” Camerota interrupted.
Daleiden responded by saying that claims Operation Rescue is “violent” are not “true at all,” and that the CNN anchor should perhaps ask Newman herself.
“Ultimately the two-and-a-half-year-long investigative journalism study that the Center for Medical Progress conducted about Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal tissue, ultimately that’s about exposing to the public the reality of how Planned Parenthood conducts their fetal tissue sales and what their relationship with companies like StemExpress is like,” Daleiden said.
“It’s not an issue of the rest of Planned Parenthood’s services or whether or not those are a good thing; it’s specifically about showing the public exactly how those sales work and documenting those in a way that everybody can see,” he added.
Along with releasing the full, uncut version of its secretly taped footage, the Center for Medical Progress has also provided complete video transcripts.
Rather than explain some of the more “disturbing” portions of the pro-life group’s videos, including top executives discussing doing “a little better than” breaking even for donating salvaged body parts, Planned Parenthood has focused instead on attacking the Center for Medical Progress, claiming that the group’s footage is little more than “selectively edited” anti-abortion propaganda.
It is illegal under federal law to profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue.
