A Texas grand jury has indicted the man behind undercover videos targeting Planned Parenthood and a woman who helped him.
David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were indicted Monday by a Harris County grand jury, which had been investigating Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast for allegations of criminal conduct, after Daleiden’s videos showed top Planned Parenthood officials discussing compensation for aborted fetal tissue. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott had called for a probe into the matter.
But instead of indicting Planned Parenthood officials, the grand jury indicted Daleiden and Merritt, who disguised themselves to secretly record conversations about the group’s participation in providing aborted fetal tissue to human tissue companies for medical research.
“We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson said. “As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us. All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case.”
The grand jury issued indictments to Daleiden for tampering with a governmental record and for Prohibition of the Purchase and Sale of Human Organs, meaning he illegally offered to buy them, according to Anderson’s office.
Planned Parenthood’s California affiliate is suing Daleiden and his group, the Center for Medical Progress, over the measures he took to obtain the footage, which included infiltrating several abortion clinics as well as a conference held by the National Abortion Federation.
The videos have put Planned Parenthood under fire on Capitol Hill and around the country, since they showed top officials discussing payment for fetal tissue and raised questions about whether doctors perform illegal abortions to keep certain organs intact.
