A judge in Texas has tossed a misdemeanor charge against Planned Parenthood investigator David Daleiden that he tried to buy fetal tissue while he was making undercover videos.
Daleiden was indicted by a grand jury earlier this year, after his undercover footage targeting Planned Parenthood prompted a huge political battle over aborted fetal tissue.
Judge Diane Bull dismissed the misdemeanor charge, writing that the indictment had to be voided because it didn’t sufficiently address exemptions to a prohibition against selling tissue. Daleiden still faces a felony charge of tampering with government documents, including using a fake ID. That charge is pending before a different judge.
Daleiden infiltrated Planned Parenthood clinics over the course of two years, posing as a human tissue buyer for a fake company. His videos prompted a renewed effort by Republicans to defund Planned Parenthood, as the videos showed the women’s health and abortion provider supplied aborted fetal tissue to biomedical companies.
Daleiden’s Center for Medical Progress said that the dismissed charge sends “a strong message to Planned Parenthood and their political cronies that colluding to suppress the First Amendment rights of citizen journalists will never work.”
“The Center for Medical Progress follows all applicable laws in the course of its investigative journalism work,” the group said.
While Daleiden has charged that Planned Parenthood illegally profited from tissue, the grand jury in Texas has cleared the group of wrongdoing.
