Planned Parenthood says more videos could surface after ongoing harassment campaign
The undercover video released last week by anti-abortion activists could be one of many, Planned Parenthood's legal counsel said in a letter addressed to Congress on Monday. This isn't because Planned Parenthood is guilty of profiting from the sale of fetal tissue, as the activists alleged, but because it has long been the target of harassment campaigns by extremists who infiltrate clinics and illegally film footage they can then "deceptively edit" to fit their anti-abortion agenda.
The letter, which comes in response to the announcement that Congressional Republicans will be investigating Planned Parenthood's tissue-donation program, outlines several ways in which last week's bombshell video was edited to make it seem as if the health-care provider profits off of fetal tissue. For example: Dr. Deborah Nucatola, the Planned Parenthood representative filmed in the video, stated ten times in the uncut footage that her company would not sell fetal tissue, but the Center for Medical Progress conveniently edited out all ten of these from the final video, which went viral.
Planned Parenthood also warns in the letter that further videos may surface, stating that the Center's head, David Daleiden, has been engaged in at least ten separate attacks on Planned Parenthood and infiltrated their centers in order to film and intimidate providers and patients at least 65 times. Daleiden, who's only 26, thinks abortion is "genocide" and has been an anti-abortion activist for over a decade. His group, the Center for Medical Progress, also has some pretty sketchy ties. According to Planned Parenthood's congressional letter:
In fact, the extremist ties of this latest effort stretch beyond Mr. Daleiden and Live Action. According to published reports, Troy Newman is registered as a board member for the Center for Medical Progress. Mr. Newman is the head of Operation Rescue, which harassed Dr. George Tiller for a decade until, again according to published reports, one of the group's members murdered Dr. Tiller in his church.
Um, yikes?
Planned Parenthood has agreed to submit to a congressional briefing by July 31, but notes, "the only people who have broken laws are the extremists who have been hounding women and Planned Parenthood doctors for years."
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