It is quite the challenge to stay abreast of the legal wranglings involving David Daleiden, Sandra Merritt, and the Center for Medical Progress. It’s all because of the CMP’s brilliant and courageous, investigative work exposing Planned Parenthood’s abhorrent and potentially illegal activities involving violent dismemberment and the selling of babies in parts.
Last week, Daleiden and his attorneys Steve Cooley and Brent Ferreira were found in contempt of court in a civil case filed by the National Abortion Federation. The contempt offense was related to the release of footage taken at NAF annual meetings from 2014 and 2015 (available here). Publication of the referenced video came after Judge Orrick had placed a gag order on Daleiden to prevent the publication of any further undercover footage.
According to the Thomas More Society, which has been underwriting the criminal defense of Daleiden and CMP, the judge’s silencing order will soon be petitioned for review by the U.S. Supreme Court as an unconstitutional censorship decree and a prior restraint on the free speech rights of Daleiden and CMP.
Fourteen criminal charges filed against Daleiden and Merritt were dismissed in June in California. That was good news, right? Well, not so fast – the harassment from the state of California has not come to an end by a long shot.
The judge’s dismissal was based on the lack of specific evidence presented to support the claims of privacy invasion. The charges were deemed legally insufficient, but one charge of conspiracy to invade privacy remained on the books in case the state returned with specific evidence of privacy invasion.
Pro-abortion attorney general Xavier Becerra was quick to answer the call. On July 7, he fired back with a new set of charges that included numbered videos along with the names of each person participating in the recorded conversations. Daleiden and Merritt will be arraigned on the new charges July 17.
Becerra’s hyper responsiveness is no surprise. The pro-abortion Democrat reportedly accepted thousands of dollars in contributions from Planned Parenthood as he campaigned for the House of Representatives in 2012 and 2014.
Becerra is following in the footsteps of now Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) who served as California Attorney General in the previous term. Also an avid abortion supporter, she launched a raid on Daleiden’s apartment even as she campaigned for the U.S. Senate in 2016 on a pro-Planned Parenthood platform.
Talk about career politicians! The string of terms, appointments, and Planned Parenthood support seem to go hand-in-hand. Harris is even rumored to run for President in 2020.
It was by her order as the state’s attorney general that agents searched Daleiden’s apartment in April 2016, seized his laptop and multiple hard drives while attempting to take his phone as he was speaking to his attorneys, according to sources close to Daleiden.
The abortion giant’s power is dumbfounding. Come with me down a rabbit trail for just a moment. Did you know that both the Senate and House healthcare bills have provisions for the defunding of Planned Parenthood for just one year? Yes, that’s right, one year.
Now explain why, after all the Republicans’ show of their deeply held desire to put an end to the tax-payer funding of abortion, would they have this beautiful opportunity in front of them and choose to limit it to one measly little year?
Well, let’s see. Mid-term elections will fall nicely within a temporary 12-month period. I can hear the campaign speeches now, “Hey, we did what we said, we defunded Planned Parenthood. Reelect us.”
The swamp is slimy, stinky, stagnant, and nowhere close to being drained.
But back to Daleiden, without a doubt, he and his associate Sandra Merritt are heroes. We owe it to them to be watchful, to keep ourselves informed, and fight for the lives of little babies who are being callously and violently murdered. We owe it to the babies, and we owe it to the Creator of these babies.
While it may feel as though the whole world is against these precious, innocent, defenseless children, we are called to speak the truth and defend the defenseless. In a culture that is growing darker, we must lean into prayer, courageous action, and the reminder that the world hated Jesus. And the world will hate us too. David Daleiden and his associates are living proof.
