Planned Parenthood Probe Ends With Twist: Indictments Against Anti-Abortionists

An investigation into the selling of fetal parts ended Monday with indictments in Texas not against its intended target, Planned Parenthood, but rather against two anti-abortion activists whose undercover tapes of the abortion provider had set off calls for defunding the group and even jailing its top officials.

The case revolves around undercover videos that anti-abortionists created purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials willing to ship fetal tissue and other abortion remnants — for a fee. Planned Parenthood has contended it ships such materials to researchers and charges only to recover its own costs for transportation and handling.

Planned Parenthood was cleared of any wrongdoing in the investigation, carried out by the Harris County District Attorney in Houston.

Texas Gov. Gregg Abbot said in a statement Monday that the state’s investigation into Planned Parenthood is ongoing.

“Nothing about today’s announcement in Harris County impacts the state’s ongoing investigation,” Abbott said.“The State of Texas will continue to protect life, and I will continue to support legislation prohibiting the sale or transfer of fetal tissue.”

David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were indicted for tampering with a governmental record, according to a release from the Harris County District Attorney’s office in Houston. Daleiden was also indicted for “for prohibition of the purchase and sale of human organs,” according to the release.

An arrest warrant has been issued for Daleiden, according to the Houston Chronicle.

It was not immediately clear what government records were tampered with and how.

“The people behind this fraud lied and broke the law in order to spread malicious lies about Planned Parenthood to advance their extreme anti-abortion political agenda,” Melaney Linton, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, said in a statement.

“As the dust settles and the truth comes out, it’s become totally clear that the only people who engaged in wrongdoing are the criminals behind this fraud, and we’re glad they are being held accountable.”

In the undercover videos, actors from the Center For Medical Progress had posed as buyers of fetal tissue from a research company. Planned Parenthood has said that the buyers in the video used fake government identification and formed a fake tissue procurement company, BioMax, to try to catch the women’s healthcare provider breaking the law.

A call to the Center For Medical Progress by Patch seeking comment was not immediately returned.

Abbott, a Republican, had called for the state to investigate Planned Parenthood’s Gulf Coast provider, which was featured in one of the Center’s videos. He said in October that the state would cut Planned Parenthood out of the state’s Medicaid budget.

“We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast,” Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson, also a Republican, said in the press release.

“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.”

Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit against the Center For Medical Progress earlier in January, calling the videos “a smear campaign.”

The videos fueled the abortion debate and has become a major talking point in the presidential race among Republicans, many of whom have called for an end of federal funding to Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood’s statement Monday said that official investigations in 11 other states have cleared the healthcare provider of any wrongdoing.

Tampering with a governmental record is a second-degree felony, and prohibition of the purchase, and sale of human organs is a Class A misdemeanor.