Planned Parenthood Files Federal Lawsuit Against Group Behind Undercover Sting Videos
Go get ‘em.
Planned Parenthood’s California affiliate filed a civil lawsuit Thursday against the people behind the Center for Medical Progress, the anti-abortion group who made a series of undercover videos targeting PP. The lawsuit accuses the CMP and its officers of violating federal racketeering laws, as well as both federal and state laws against invasion of privacy and trespassing.
In a conference call with reporters, PPFA announced that it has filed suit against the CMP, as well as its founder, David Daleiden, Troy Newman of Operation Rescue, a CMP board member, and Alvin Rhomberg, another board member. They also filed suit against “BioMax Procurement Services,” the fictitious tissue procurement company created by the CMP, and whose representatives met with Planned Parenthood employees—and secretly taped them—under the guise of wanting to partner with the organization.
Also named in the suit are three people who haven’t been publicly identified before, all of whom passed themselves off as Biomax employees. They are Susan Merritt, who operated under the alias Susan Tannenbaum, as well as two men going by the alises Philip Cronen and Gerardo Adrian Lopez. (Planned Parenthood doesn’t appear to know either man’s real name.)
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“Today, Planned Parenthood is going on the offensive against those who would shut our doors,” Kathy Kneer, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood’s California affiliate told reporters on the press call. The lawsuit, she added, was filed to expose “an elaborate and illegal conspiracy mounted by a network of anti-abortion activists to accuse us of illegal activity.”
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