MATTERS OF LIFE AND DEATH
CONGRESS ISSUES SUBPOENA FOR BABY-PARTS FOOTAGE
'It is vital that we review the unedited videos to understand the whole truth'
Bob Unruh
Republican members of Congress have overcome attempts by abortionists to keep secret the statements they made to undercover investigators looking into Planned Parenthood’s body-parts business.
The House Oversight and Government Reform Subcommittee on Health Care, Benefits and Administrative Rule has issued a subpoena for the full and unedited videos made by the Center for Medical Progress, according to the committee’s chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
CMP created a fake company that purported to buy body parts of aborted babies and sell them to researchers.
Over several years, CMP secretly recorded conversations with Planned Parenthood officials who engaged in negotiation for body parts and candidly discussed gruesome aspects of the trade.
Jordan said the recently released undercover Planned Parenthood videos are “beyond disturbing.”
“They are outright appalling, and show activity that is not only morally wrong, but appears to be potentially illegal as well,” he said.
“These videos raise serious questions about this organization’s use of taxpayer funds that cannot go unanswered. It is our duty as members of Congress to ensure taxpayer money is not misused. This subpoena creates a legal obligation that ensures that a judge in Northern California cannot stand in the way of congressional investigations into this matter.”
He explained that for Congress to make informed decisions about its use of taxpayer dollars, “it is vital that we review the unedited videos to understand the whole truth.”
Judge William Orrick of San Francisco had blocked the release of some of the videos in response to a complaint from the National Abortion Federation, whose leaders are on record in the videos.
As part of the case, lawyers for CMP and its founder, David Daleiden, on Wednesday went to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to file a mandamus action.
The filing explains CMP conducted a 30-month undercover investigation of the practice of buying and selling fetal tissue within the abortion industry.
“Their investigation revealed evidence of widespread criminal practices in the industry, including the selling of fetal tissue for profit, the alteration of abortion methods to procure better fetal tissue specimens, the collection of intact fetuses born with beating hearts for research purposes, and the procurement of fetal tissue for research without patients’ knowledge and consent,” the order said. “Each of these practices is a crime under federal law.”
NAF sued Daleiden and CMP “in an attempt to silence free speech on the abortion industry’s sale of fetal body parts,” lawyers from the Thomas More Society said on behalf of CMP.
The filing with the appeals court followed an unsuccessful effort at the district court to have NAF’s complaint dismissed under California’s anti-SLAPP law.
The “point of the anti-SLAPP statute is that you have a right not to be dragged through the courts because you exercised your constitutional rights,” the legal team explained.
The lawyers told the appeals judges, “This case involves an extraordinary gag order, followed by an equally extraordinary discovery order.”
The district court’s order prevents Daleiden “from speaking publicly on matters of paramount public interest that have dominated national headlines for weeks.”
And its discovery decision ordered the center “to participate in burdensome and intrusive discovery relating to a motion for preliminary injunction.”
“This court should hold that the district court’s order compelling CMP to participate in discovery must be dissolved for two independent reasons: (1) no discovery is necessary to resolve the pending motion for preliminary injunction, because any injunction in this case would manifestly violate the First Amendment’s ironclad prohibition on prior restraints on free speech; and (2) California law, applicable in federal court … requires the district court to rule on the anti-SLAPP motion prior to conducting discovery in the case.”
In a similar, separate ruling, another court previously determined that the First Amendment allowed CMP to release the disputed videos.
But the congressional subpoena means the videos can be forwarded to Congress for its purposes – whether or not a California judge is suppressing them.
WND has reported on the videos – 10 so far – as they have been released. They are posted online.
The most recent showed the abortionists were aware of how bad it would look if word got out about their baby-parts business.
“This is important,” said Vanessa Cullins, the vice president of external medical affairs for Planned Parenthood. “This could destroy your organization and us, if we don’t time those conversations correctly.”
And Deborah VanDerhei, the national director of Planned Parenthood ‘s Consortium of Abortion Providers, said, “Think New York Times headline when you’re creating your policy.”
She explained it’s an issue “you might imagine that we’re not that comfortable talking about on emails.”
“And so we want to have the conversation in person,” VanDerhei said.
“I think a congressional hearing from, you know, scared the bejeezus out of people 15 years ago … so we just want to not have to repeat that again.”
CMP noted the sale or purchase of human fetal tissue is a federal felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison or a fine of up to $500,000.
See the most recent video:
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2015/09/congress-issues-subpoena-for-baby-parts-footage/#s0eRJf89Vcx3Dtu8.99My comments: If America continues with her Abortion, she has No Future before the Living God. Obama and the Democrats are an Amoral people without Conscience and will Never give up Abortion unless Forced to.
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