Two Planned Parenthood Affiliates Join Lawsuit Against Filmmaker

Planned Parenthood announced Thursday that two additional affiliates –– Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast –– have joined the organization’s federal lawsuit against the Center for Medical Progress and its founder.

The pro-life CMP released a series of undercover videos of Planned Parenthood executives that raised allegations that the nation’s largest abortion provider is trafficking in aborted fetal body parts. Profiting from the sale of human organs, including those of the unborn, is a felony in the United States. Spokespersons for Planned Parenthood have denied participation in illegal transactions.

Both of the Planned Parenthood affiliates were featured in videos released by the Center for Medical Progress.

"Earlier this month, Planned Parenthood's star witness at a hearing of the Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives admitted under oath that Planned Parenthood's ‘consent’ form to harvest body parts from abortion patients is inaccurate, inappropriate, and unethical,” David Daleiden, the founder of the Center for Medical Progress, said in a statement provided to TheBlaze. “That means Planned Parenthood's entire baby parts scheme, including the Rocky Mountain and Gulf Coast affiliates, has operated without valid patient consent. The truly ‘fake’ organization here is the facade that Planned Parenthood continues to fraudulently hold out as being a legitimate mainstream medical provider."

Planned Parenthood filed the federal lawsuit against the group in January.

“Women deserve to access basic health care free from harassment or threats of violence. Health care providers should be able to serve their patients without worrying they risk their lives to do so. These anti-abortion extremists broke the law in order to spread lies and demonize Planned Parenthood and the millions of patients who rely on our health centers for care,” Dawn Laguens, the executive vice president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said in a statement. “As a result, providers have faced death threats, personal attacks, harassment, and more. David Daleiden and his co-conspirators spent three years building a vast criminal conspiracy, and another eight months spreading malicious lies, and we are holding them accountable. This lawsuit exposes their illegal conspiracy to block women from basic health care and criminalize abortion in this country.”

In one video released by the Center for Medical Progress, Melissa Farrell, Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s director of research, said that “we get requests a lot for fetal tissue.”

In another video, during a conversation with actors portraying buyers from a human biologics company, Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains Vice President and Medical Director Dr. Savita Ginde said, “I think a per-item thing works a little better, just because we can see how much we can get out of it.”

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