A California state judge has blocked StemExpress from accessing potentially damaging material obtained undercover by an anti-abortion group.
The biomedical company contracts with some Planned Parenthood clinics for aborted fetal tissue, which it in turn sells to researchers. A series of recent videos targeting Planned Parenthood feature a former StemExpress employee who said the company has obtained fetal tissue without first gaining patient permission.
StemExpress was seeking access to the material obtained by undercover actors from the Center for Medical Progress, which has released footage over the last month and says more is coming. But a Superior Court of California denied the company’s request on Thursday.
“Plaintiff does not persuade the court that the discovery it seeks is necessary to obtain the preliminary injunction,” the court wrote. “That is because it appears unlikely that the court is going to grant the preliminary injunction.”
StemExpress is also seeking a permanent injunction preventing the Center for Medical Progress from releasing any videos featuring its current employees or facilities. A California state court judge has already granted StemExpress a temporary restraining order restricting the activist group from releasing videos featuring any of its top executives.
Attorney Chuck LiMandri said Thursday the court was right to reject the request.
“The court was right to deny StemExpress’ request to gain access to damaging material against them obtained through solid investigative journalism,” said LiMandri, president of the Freedom of Conscience Defense Fund. “Americans have the right to know the truth about Planned Parenthood’s sale of baby body parts and the ‘fiscal rewards’ StemExpress says that it provides to abortion clinics.”
The videos have launched Planned Parenthood into a hotbed of controversy, as they feature some of the group’s top officials talking about how some clinics provide biomedical companies with aborted fetal tissue and are compensated for the cost of providing it.
Planned Parenthood denies it has done anything illegal, but Republicans are still investigating the women’s health and abortion provider.
