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Center for Medical Progress

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The Center for Medical Progress
FormationMarch 7, 2013[1]
46-2252984[2]
Legal status501(c)(3)
HeadquartersIrvine, California
Websitecenterformedicalprogress.org

The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) is an anti-abortion organization founded by David Daleiden in 2013.[3][4][5][6] Daleiden set up a fake biomedical research company, called Biomax Procurement Services, as a cover to enable activists to pose as buyers of fetal tissue and secretly record Planned Parenthood executives during meetings.[7] The CMP's edited recordings led anti-abortion politicians to request a criminal investigation of Planned Parenthood for allegedly "profiting" from the donation of fetal tissue. The full, unedited videos instead showed Planned Parenthood requesting a reasonable fee to cover its costs, without any profit.[8] A grand jury in Harris County, Texas, took no action against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, and instead indicted Daleiden and a second CMP employee on felony charges of tampering with governmental records and attempting to purchase human organs.[9] These charges were dropped 6 months later.

Organization

David Daleiden formed the Center for Medical Progress in 2013 after working for Live Action for five years. He was that organization’s director of research "during the early stages" of the project to make secret recordings of Planned Parenthood clinics.[10][11] The CMP's board members include Daleiden, Troy Newman, and Albin Rhomberg,[6] and they receive advice, consulting and funds from Operation Rescue.[12] Their website initially described the organization as "dedicated to informing and educating both the lay public and the scientific community about the latest advances in regenerative medicine, cell-based therapies, and related disciplines."[3] It was initially registered by Daleiden as a tax-exempt biomedicine charity,[13] but after questions about the group's tax exempt status the organization's stated mission was changed to "a group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances."[3]

Undercover videos controversy

Main article: Planned Parenthood 2015 undercover videos controversy

Daleiden's organization set up a fake biomedical research company, called Biomax Procurement Services. Under this guise, they posed as potential buyers of aborted fetal tissue and organs, and secretly recorded Planned Parenthood officials during meetings.[7] CMP released edited versions of these videos, which it promoted as showing Planned Parenthood officials "price haggling over ‘baby parts'".[14] When the full, unedited, videos became available, they instead showed "a Planned Parenthood executive repeatedly saying its clinics want to cover their costs, not make money, when donating fetal tissue from abortions for scientific research."[8] According to the lawyer for Planned Parenthood, Roger K. Evans, Biomax proposed “sham procurement contracts,” offering US$1,600 for liver and thymus fetal tissues.[15]

The videos and allegations attracted widespread media coverage, and re-invigorated the long-term American political abortion debate.[16] Five separate congressional investigations of Planned Parenthood were launched as a result of the videos.[17] A bill to defund Planned Parenthood was proposed, but failed to pass in the Senate on August 3, 2015.[18] Several states cut contracts and funding for Planned Parenthood following the videos, regardless of whether Planned Parenthood provided abortion services in those states.[19] An editorial in The New England Journal of Medicine was highly critical of the Center for Medical Progress, describing the videos as part of a "campaign of misinformation" by an organization that "twist(s) the facts."[20]

TeleSUR television network listed The Center for Medical Progress as one of "The 7 Biggest Bigots of 2015" for "attacking women's rights in the United States."[21]

Media Matters for America named The Center for Medical Progress their "Misinformer Of The Year" for 2015.[22]

Lawsuits against the CMP

In the aftermath of the videos being released, the National Abortion Federation sued the Center for Medical Progress.[23][24] In September 2015, two courts ruled that Daleiden and the Center for Medical Progress must turn over private documents and submit to depositions about how they orchestrated their video sting, and could require Daleiden to turn over paperwork and details of the operation, and provide the full raw footage he collected while posing as an executive of the fictitious tissue procurement firm Biomax.[25] On December 4, 2015, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy ruled on an emergency appeal from the Center for Medical Progress. The CMP's appeal had asked the Justice to block the lower courts' order that would require CMP to release the names of its donors. Justice Kennedy denied the appeal.[26]

On January 15, 2016, Planned Parenthood commenced a lawsuit in federal district court in San Francisco against the CMP, alleging that the group and its members, in setting up a fake tissue procurement company and using fake identities to set up private meetings engaged in wire and mail fraud in violation of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO Act), unlawfully invaded privacy, and engaged in illegal secret recording, and trespassing.[27][28]

On June 13, 2016, a Texas judge dismissed the misdemeanor charge of purchase and sale of human organs due to a technicality in the Harris County prosecutor's indictment. The next day, the Harris County District Attorney's Office said it would not fight the decision. The prosecution failed to provide proof that any fees offered or paid for aborted fetal parts were not covered by exceptions like physician or transport fees. The hearing for the felony charge is July 26, 2016.[29]

Criminal prosecution of CMP employees

On January 25, 2016, the findings of a Harris County, Texas grand jury investigating the affair were made public. The grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing, and indicted two CMP employees. David Daleiden was indicted on one felony charge of tampering with a governmental record by making a fake driver's license and one misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs; another center employee, Sandra Merritt, was indicted on one charge of tampering with a governmental record.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "The Center for Medical Progress". Business Search - Business Entities. California Secretary of State's Office. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  2. ^ "Exempt Organizations Select Check". Internal Revenue Service. Retrieved September 2, 2015.
  3. ^ a b c "With Planned Parenthood Videos, Activist Ignites Abortion Issue". The New York Times. July 23, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  4. ^ "Who Is the 26-Year-Old Man Behind the Planned Parenthood 'Sting' Videos?". Yahoo Health. July 22, 2015. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  5. ^ "Hoaxers Fail to Nail Planned Parenthood in New Video". The Daily Beast. Operation Rescue provides "advice, consulting, funds" to the CMP
  6. ^ a b "Who's Behind the Planned Parenthood Sting Video? Troy Newman—and Other Rabid Anti-Choicers". The Nation. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  7. ^ a b "Sting Videos Part Of Longtime Campaign Against Planned Parenthood". NPR.org. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  8. ^ a b "Unspinning the Planned Parenthood Video". Factcheck.org. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  9. ^ a b Fernandez, Manny (January 25, 2016). "2 Abortion Foes Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted". New York Times.
  10. ^ "Maker of Planned Parenthood Video Called Abortion 'Genocide'". The Daily Beast. July 15, 2015.
  11. ^ "Planned Parenthood: More Sting Videos Are Coming". The Huffington Post. The CMP was founded by David Daleiden, an anti-abortion activist who previously worked for the group Live Action, known for its heavily edited undercover videos of Planned Parenthood staffers.
  12. ^ "Hoaxers Fail to Nail Planned Parenthood in New Video". The Daily Beast. Retrieved September 28, 2016.
  13. ^ "Group Behind Planned Parenthood Sting Video May Have Tricked IRS, Donors". The Huffington Post. July 17, 2015.
  14. ^ Sherfinski, David (July 21, 2015). "Second Planned Parenthood video shows price haggling over 'baby parts'". The Washington Times. Retrieved July 27, 2015.
  15. ^ "Planned Parenthood Tells Congress More Videos of Clinics Might Surface". The New York Times. Retrieved August 2, 2015.
  16. ^ "Planned Parenthood Says Video Part of Decadelong Harassment". The New York Times. Associated Press. July 20, 2015. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  17. ^ Molly Redden, Grand jury investigating Planned Parenthood indicts anti-abortion activists instead, The Guardian (January 25, 2016).
  18. ^ "Senate blocks Planned Parenthood defunding measure", Reuters, August 3, 2015.
  19. ^ Calmes, Jackie (September 1, 2015). "Louisiana Lays Bare Difficulty in Push to Cut Planned Parenthood Funding". The New York Times.
  20. ^ Topulos GP, Greene MF, Drazen JM (2015). "Planned Parenthood at Risk". N. Engl. J. Med. 373: 963. doi:10.1056/NEJMe1510281. PMID 26267451.
  21. ^ Mallett-Outtrim, Ryan (December 17, 2015), The 7 Biggest Bigots of 2015, TeleSUR, retrieved December 17, 2015
  22. ^ Kittel, Olivia, Misinformer Of The Year: The Center For Medical Progress, retrieved April 11, 2016
  23. ^ National Abortion Federation Files Lawsuit Against Planned Parenthood Attack Group, RH Reality Check, July 31, 2015
  24. ^ Planned Parenthood Weighs Response to Undercover Videos, Newsweek, August 21, 2015
  25. ^ "Courts rule Daleiden must turn over documents, video footage". Politico. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  26. ^ Martinez, J. (December 5, 2015). "Supreme Court Weighing In on Planned Parenthood Videos". Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  27. ^ Chris Frates, Planned Parenthood files suit against anti-abortion videos group, CNN (January 15, 2016).
  28. ^ Nathan Pemberton, Planned Parenthood Files Lawsuit Over Secretly Filmed Videos, Daily Intelligencer (January 14, 2016).
  29. ^ Perry Chiaramonte, Key Charge Dropped Against Pro Life Activist in Planned Parenthood Sting, FOX News (June 14, 2016)
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