Planned Parenthood Sues Center for Medical Progress to Block Release of Public Records

Planned Parenthood has sued David Daleiden, founder of the anti-abortion Center for Medical Progress, in an effort to block the release of public records regarding "the purchase, transfer, or procurement of human fetal tissues" at the University of Washington.

Image source: YouTube, the Center for Medical Progress

The lawsuit’s plaintiffs include Planned Parenthood Federation of America and its affiliate Planned Parenthood of Greater Washington and North Idaho. Zachary Freeman, communications director for the Family Policy Institute of Washington who sought similar records, is also named as a defendant. The university also is a defendant.

According to The Federalist, the lawsuit was filed Thursday in an effort to block the scheduled release of the documents on Friday.

More from the Federalist:

Daleiden requested “an opportunity to inspect or obtain copies of all documents that relate to the purchase, transfer, or procurement of human fetal tissues, human fetal organs, and/or human fetal cell products at the University of Washington Birth Defects Research Laboratory from 2010 to present” in February under the Washington Public Records Act. His public records request sought communications between the University of Washington and various entities engaged in body part transfers, the purchase orders associated with them, and various other information that could help the public understand how the transfer and sale of aborted baby parts is handled in Washington state.

“Planned Parenthood and their allies have yet again stormed into federal court, this time demanding the suppression of public records about Planned Parenthood’s supply of aborted baby parts to the taxpayer-sponsored, NIH-funded fetal harvesting service at the University of Washington,” Daleiden said in a statement.

More from his statement:

Last October, Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards hailed the partnership between Planned Parenthood Greater Washington & North Idaho and the University of Washington as the exemplary model of their new program for profit-neutral baby parts harvesting. Numerous headlines proclaimed Planned Parenthood’s new "policy change" purporting to stop receiving payment for fetal body parts, after CMP’s videos had revealed Planned Parenthood’s senior leadership callously negotiating the harvest and sale of tiny baby hearts, lungs, and brains for profit.

Over the past year, the American people have watched as Planned Parenthood has scrambled to distract the public and public authorities from the scandal—even while Planned Parenthood has failed the answer the most basic questions about their baby body parts program. What is Planned Parenthood hiding about their new model baby parts program at the University of Washington? The American people, whose tax dollars make this entire barbaric industry possible, deserve to know the truth.

A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood Federation of America on Friday did not immediately return TheBlaze’s request for comment.

Legal Voice counsel Janet Chung, one of the plaintiffs' attorneys, said in a statement provided to Seattle’s KING-TV that, "We know all too well the importance of protecting the privacy and safety of clinicians and researchers involved in controversial issues, such as fetal tissue donation."

"People opposed to fetal tissue research have used public records requests...to gather and publicize the personal information of indivuals [sic]...putting them at risk," Chung said.

Planned Parenthood filed another federal lawsuit against the Center for Medical Progress in January.

Last year the Center for Medical Progress released a series of undercover videos appearing to show Planned Parenthood executives haggling over the price of aborted fetal body parts. Profiting from the sale of human organs — including those of the unborn — is illegal in the United States.

Throughout the controversy, spokespersons for Planned Parenthood have maintained that the videos are “heavily edited” and that they broke no laws. An independent forensic investigation found the videos to be “authentic.”

All criminal charges against Daleiden and his associate Sandra Merritt for their roles in the release of the videos were recently dismissed.

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