Planned Parenthood is suing the maker of undercover videos highlighting its involvement with supplying aborted fetal tissue and the group he founded to obtain the footage.
The women’s health and abortion provider announced Thursday it has filed a civil lawsuit in the Northern California federal district court against David Daleiden and his fake human tissue company BioMax, which he used to infiltrate several of its clinics and a national conference held by the National Abortion Federation.
“Today, Planned Parenthood is going on the offensive against those who would shut our doors,” said Kathy Kneer, president of Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California, saying the lawsuit is to “hold accountable people behind this vicious smear campaign.”
“This lawsuit is the results of a lengthy and careful process, in fact, we’ve spent months piecing together the web of deceit,” Kneer said.
Planned Parenthood says Daleiden broke multiple laws and violated confidentiality agreements to obtain interviews with officials to discuss how some clinics were compensated for providing aborted fetuses for medical research purposes.
Daleiden’s videos targeting Planned Parenthood, released last summer, prompted a major backlash by GOP governors and Republicans in Congress, who have sought to block its federal reimbursements and have created a special committee to look into fetal tissue research.
Planned Parenthood maintains it broke no laws, providing the tissue only in exchange for compensation to cover overhead costs. It is seeking damages from Daleiden for increased security threats to its staff and a drop-off in patients during a subsequent website hack.
It also is asking the court to grant a permanent injunction, enjoining Daleiden or any of his colleagues on the project from entering any conferences on false grounds or recording any conversations without first obtaining the full consent of all involved.
“The laws were clear — David Daleiden repeatedly and knowing violated them,” said Amy Bomse, a lead attorney on the case.
Daleiden operates under a group he calls the Center for Medical Progress. Besides Daleiden, CMP and his fake tissue company BioMax, the lawsuit also names Troy Newman, Albin Rhomberg, Sandra Merritt, Gerardo Lopez and Phillip Cronin as defendents.
On numerous occasions, Daleiden met Planned Parenthood officials for lunch and other meetings at clinics posing as a human tissue buyer for BioMax. After secretly taping the meetings, he compiled evidence he says proves that Planned Parenthood illegally performed partial-birth abortions and sold fetal tissue for a profit. He released the footage in a series of videos that drew widespread attention.
“Game on. I look forward to deposing all the CEOs, medical directors and their co-conspirators who participated in Planned Parenthood’s illegal baby body parts racket,” Daleiden said Thursday, responding to the lawsuit.
