Federal courts block Trump Adminstration's attempt to cut grants to Planned Prenthood's pregnancy prevention programs.

Courtesy of The Hill: 

A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from cutting short grants awarded to Planned Parenthood through a federal teen pregnancy prevention program. 

U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice on Tuesday issued a permanent injunction preventing the administration from ending the grants two years earlier than originally planned, saying that doing so would cause public harm. 

"The Court determines that the public interest weighs in favor of Plaintiffs, as it would prevent harm to the community ... and prevent loss of data regarding the effectiveness of teen pregnancy prevention," Rice wrote. 

Planned Parenthood sued the administration after it ended Teen Pregnancy Prevention grants for 81 organizations across the country last summer. 

The grants were originally supposed to run through 2020, but the administration said the grants would end in 2018 instead, arguing that the program was ineffective. 

The program, created under former President Obama, funded organizations working to cut teen pregnancy rates and mostly focused on comprehensive sex ed, which can include contraception and abstinence teachings.

Of course this is a program created during the Obama Administration because Trump is laser focused on undoing EVERYTHING that Obama accomplished during his two terms in office. 

And he doesn't care who it hurts.

This is something that the pro-choice folks should be talking about constantly.

Studies have proven that good sex education and access to birth control prevents far more abortions than any draconian anti-abortion laws passed by Republicans ever could.

The man who secretly taped Planned Parenthood workers is facing more legal trouble, and now so are his attorneys.

It was not I who was handcuffed, manhandled, and kept in a holding cell Wed afternoon last week--it was the 1st Amendment. @PPact @AGBecerra pic.twitter.com/UWfpr1yztO

— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) April 13, 2017

Nice try, but no it was just you.

Courtesy of Buzzfeed: 

The anti-abortion activist behind the videos accusing Planned Parenthood of selling “baby parts,” as he put it, could be going to prison. And now his criminal defense lawyers could join him. 

Late last month, David Daleiden and his team of criminal attorneys allegedly flouted multiple injunctions and court-issued seals by posting more shocking videos of abortion providers and identifying 14 of the John/Jane Does participating in the state criminal complaint against him and his recording partner Sandra Merritt. Those names were previously under a court seal. 

This apparent defiance of court orders may end up landing Daleiden and his criminal attorneys in contempt of both state and federal court, potentially resulting in fines and jail time — and disbarment for the lawyers. 

Daleiden’s work once caused multiple congressional investigations and nearly shut down the government. Two years and multiple lawsuits and legal hurdles later, the 28-year-old and his Planned Parenthood investigation have faded out of the headlines.

That's true, the last I wrote about Daleiden was back in March when California charged him, and one of his assistants, with invasion of privacy.

Now it appears that he is once again on the wrong side of the law:  

A federal court issued a preliminary injunction in a now two-year-old civil lawsuit brought by NAF, blocking Daleiden, his lawyers and any third party from releasing any new footage or names of those filmed until the case is closed. US District Judge William Orrick granted the injunction in February, 2016 in response to NAF’s claims of “death threats and severe harassment” against its employees. After the state of California brought a separate criminal case against Daleiden and Merritt in March of this year, the list of names of those accusing them was placed under a confidential court seal as well. Daleiden and his criminal attorneys published the videos and the list of names anyway. 

And last week, Daleiden’s criminal defense lawyers hired a criminal attorney of their own. That attorney, Vicki Ileen Podberesky, did not immediately respond to a request for comment for this story.

So now this guy's attorneys have have a lawyer of their own?

Now why does that seem so familiar?

This guy is a scum sucking POS.

And I would not spend five seconds on him if he were not a prime example of the kind of guerilla tactics the Right Wing uses these days and attempts to pass off as "real journalism" while attacking actual established media outlets as "fake news."

Senator Lisa Murkowski takes stand for Planned Parenthood. Wait, MY Senator Lisa Murkowski?

Courtesy of Politico: 

Sen. Lisa Murkowski has assured an Alaska constituent that she's committed to preserving Planned Parenthood funding as part of a health care bill — the strongest line she's drawn yet over one of the most controversial elements of the Obamacare repeal effort. 

"I am committed to ensuring that important provisions of the ACA, such as covering those with pre-existing conditions, continued support for Medicaid expansion, coverage for dependents and no lifetime limits, and funding for Planned Parenthood remain intact," Murkowski wrote in the constituent letter obtained by POLITICO.

Murkowski is one of the most important swing votes in the health care debate, making her position on Planned Parenthood potentially pivotal to the shape of the final bill. Most Republicans, as well as anti-abortion groups, want the organization defunded as part of the health bill. 

In the past, Murkowski has said publicly that she doesn't think Planned Parenthood defunding should be part of the repeal effort. But she hasn't said that she would automatically vote against a bill that included it.

Well damn, I'm actually impressed by this.

It is not often that Murkowski takes a political stance that some lobbyist is not paying her to take, so this is to be celebrated.

And having said this out loud, I really don't think that Murkowski can renege on this position without it essentially dooming her reelection chances, so I am pretty confident that she will stand by it despite the pressures put on her by her fellow Republicans.

Look I know it's not much, but she is all we Alaskans have by way of ethical politicians representing us in Washington.

Besides her we only have Dan "Koch brothers' bitch" Sullivan and Don "How much will you pay me for my vote" Young.

Sometimes Lisa can be as wishy washy as they come, but if she stands by this decision, and I really think she will, she has essentially ensured that Trumpcare is dead in the water.

The Freedom From Religion Foundation rakes in over $100,000 in donations, all in the name of vice president Mike Pence.

Wait, what's happening?

Courtesy of FFRF: 

The Freedom From Religion Foundation is delighted to announce that it has received a $100,000-plus boost to its legal fund via donations in Vice President Mike Pence's name. FFRF began its "Give dollars and cents to counteract Pence" campaign in early November and, as of March 31, has raised $104,829. 

FFRF is a state/church watchdog with more than 27,000 largely freethinking (atheist and agnostic) members. 

"We warmly thank the 1,905 donors to date who have given from $1 to $5,000," says FFRF Co-President Annie Laurie Gaylor. 

FFRF's ongoing campaign urges: 

"Send a message to Mike Pence and his boss: The only wall we need is between church and state. Your gift to FFRF's legal fund in Mike Pence's name will be subversive (and deductible for income tax purposes). We'll use your kind donation to fight the imposition of religion by our government under the guise of 'religious liberty.' We'll put your donation to work to shore up the fence Pence needs to honor: the wall of separation between state and church." 

 And FFRF is right to keep the focus on Mike Pence, because if we actually do see Trump impeached this Bible thumping, woman hating, pig will be our new president. 

You also might remember that Planned Parenthood also experienced a rush of donations in Pence's name back in November of 2016.

Gee look, Mike Pence IS good for something after all.

California charges two anti-abortion activists with illegally filming Planned Parenthood employees.

David Deleiden

Courtesy of Time Magazine: 

California prosecutors on Tuesday charged two anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos of themselves trying to buy fetal tissue from Planned Parenthood with 15 felonies, saying they invaded the privacy of medical providers by filming without consent. 

The charges against David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for Medical Progress come eight months after similar charges were dropped in Texas. 

State Attorney General Xavier Becerra, a longtime Congressional Democrat who took over the investigation in January, said in a statement that the state "will not tolerate the criminal recording of conversations."

Prosecutors say Daleiden, of Davis, California, and Merritt, of San Jose, filmed 14 people without permission between October 2013 and July 2015 in Los Angeles, San Francisco and El Dorado counties. One felony count was filed for each person. The 15th was for criminal conspiracy to invade privacy. 

Daleiden said in an email to The Associated Press that the "bogus" charges are coming from "Planned Parenthood's political cronies." 

"The public knows the real criminals are Planned Parenthood and their business partners," Daleiden said.

Actually what the majority of the public knows is that these people are political operatives who used doctored videos to damage and organization which provide a myriad of health care services to women all across the country.

If you have forgotten about these assholes, here is your reminder.

Essentially these folks tried to do the same thing to Planned Parenthood that James O'Keefe's carefully edited videos did to ACORN.

In the end however, besides smearing the reputation of Planned Parenthood, they were unsuccessful in destroying the organization. (Not that the conservatives are not still trying.)

Hopefully in a blue state like California these smear merchants will receive the justice they so richly deserve.

Conan's late night sidekick tells his Planned Parenthood story. Oh yes, he has one.

Courtesy of the Hollywood Reporter:

It’s not easy for anyone to share an abortion story, but Andy Richter did just that on Sept. 10. Host of the second Sexy Beast, the art-themed fundraiser for Planned Parenthood L.A. (PPLA) held at The Theater at Ace Hotel, Richter took attendees at the event back to the early 1990s, when he and his then-girlfriend (and now-wife), comedian Sarah Thyre, were starring in Jill Soloway’s stage production of The Brady Bunch. 

“I’d like to share a story,” he began. “In 1992, my girlfriend and I were having a rough time. We’d been performing in a show together for a couple of years, but it had come to an end, and we found ourselves living apart. She was in New York City working three jobs; I was in Chicago jobless and sleeping on my mother’s couch. The strain of living apart, and the stress of being two young people attempting to make a living as performers and writers was really taking a toll on its relationship. So when she called me to tell me that she was pregnant, it was not exactly happy news." 

 "Luckily for us Planned Parenthood existed," Richter continued. "My girlfriend knew that she was not ready for motherhood, and I knew that I was in no way prepared to be a father. I drove from Chicago in my battered old Toyota pick-up to be with her when she went to Planned Parenthood to terminate her pregnancy. Her choice to get an abortion was a choice that she made with assuredness. She knew that she was doing the right thing for everyone involved. But I can’t say it was easy. She was sad, and I was sad, and it was sad. But to this day, I know that she will tell you that she made the right decision."

Richter's story took another sad turn before a very happy conclusion. "Soon after I returned to Chicago, the strain of our long-distance relationship became too much for us, and Sarah and I broke up," he said. "But then, what seems like five minutes after that, we realized that breaking up was the stupidest thing we’d ever done. So we got back together, and we got engaged, and we got married, and we had a couple kids, and a parrot and two dogs. And so far, we’ve been married for 22 wonderful years. Planned Parenthood gave two young struggling people the ability to do the thing that is in their name: We got to plan parenthood. When we could barely care for ourselves, much less a newborn, we were able to choose the time when we brought a child into our lives. Planned Parenthood allowed my wife to make the decisions she needed to make in order to control her body and her health, and maintain her life and her future. And for that, I will be eternally grateful.”

I thought this was a very poignant story, and made even more so by the fact that it was told by a male concerning how the decision to terminate an unwanted pregnancy positively affected his life.

We actually need to hear more stories from the male perspective because often these decisions are as difficult and terrifying for them as they are for the women.

And ending a pregnancy when you are not yet ready to care for a child, certainly does NOT mean that you will not go on to have a wonderful family, a wonderful marriage, and to be a wonderful mother or father.

I have known more than one couple who terminated an early pregnancy only to go on to have a house full of kids after they finished school and were financially and emotionally ready to be parents.

Since 2010 maternal mortality rate doubles in Texas, now the highest in the developed world. Gee, I wonder how that happened?

Courtesy of The Guardian: 

The rate of Texas women who died from complications related to pregnancy doubled from 2010 to 2014, a new study has found, for an estimated maternal mortality rate that is unmatched in any other state and the rest of the developed world. 

The finding comes from a report, appearing in the September issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, that the maternal mortality rate in the United States increased between 2000 and 2014, even while the rest of the world succeeded in reducing its rate. Excluding California, where maternal mortality declined, and Texas, where it surged, the estimated number of maternal deaths per 100,000 births rose to 23.8 in 2014 from 18.8 in 2000 – or about 27%. 

But the report singled out Texas for special concern, saying the doubling of mortality rates in a two-year period was hard to explain “in the absence of war, natural disaster, or severe economic upheaval”.

Boy that is puzzling.

After all without war or natural disaster what could possibly account for so many women dying?

In the wake of the report, reproductive health advocates are blaming the increase on Republican-led budget cuts that decimated the ranks of Texas’s reproductive healthcare clinics. In 2011, just as the spike began, the Texas state legislature cut $73.6m from the state’s family planning budget of $111.5m. The two-thirds cut forced more than 80 family planning clinics to shut down across the state. The remaining clinics managed to provide services – such as low-cost or free birth control, cancer screenings and well-woman exams – to only half as many women as before. 

At the same time, Texas eliminated all Planned Parenthood clinics – whether or not they provided abortion services – from the state program that provides poor women with preventive healthcare. Previously, Planned Parenthood clinics in Texas offered cancer screenings and contraception to more than 130,000 women.

Oh that's right, the Texas Republicans took away the health services that many women rely on.

How could I forget?

But hey ladies you just keep right on voting Republican.

After all it's not like it was a matter of life or death or anything. Right?

Hey I think I just identified the next Right Wing freakout. Planned Parenthood is going to allow voter registration at their clinics.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

Planned Parenthood announced Friday that it will start registering voters at its clinics, on college campuses, online and at other locations, “regardless of their background, beliefs, or political ideology,” in an effort to get disenfranchised populations more involved in the political process. 

 The non-partisan campaign, called “My Vote, My Voice,” has the potential to reach a lot of people who don’t normally vote in presidential campaigns. Volunteers across 45 states will set up “action” tables outside of Planned Parenthood health centers and other locations in the community to sign people up to vote, educate them about voter ID laws in their states, and then remind them two weeks before the November election to vote. 

Planned Parenthood serves 2.5 million patients a year, and many of those patients are young, low-income, and people of color― the demographics that are disproportionately affected by voter suppression laws. 

 “If we can’t all participate in our government, we all get cheated,” said Anna Keene, a Planned Parenthood spokeswoman. “We’re launching the ‘My Vote, My Voice’ campaign to help ensure that every voice is heard and every vote is counted in communities across the country. No matter what your political beliefs are, if you don’t or can’t vote, then you can’t elect officials who will keep your best interests in mind.”

Oh yeah this is going to make give the conservatives "splodey" heads for sure.

I mean sure women of all political stripes use the clinics, but in the minds of the Right Wing anybody who registers to vote in a Planned Parenthood clinic is DEFINITELY voting for Hillary Clinton.

David Daleiden, the guy behind those doctored Planned Parenthood videos, has felony charges dropped in Texas. No surprise there.

Courtesy of HuffPo:

A Texas judge on Tuesday dismissed a felony charge brought against two anti-abortion activists who produced controversial sting videos about Planned Parenthood. The county prosecutor’s office requested the dismissal. 

 A grand jury, which was originally investigating allegations of wrongdoing by Planned Parenthood, indicted David Daleiden, a self-proclaimed citizen journalist, and Sandra Merritt, another anti-abortion activist, in January. They were accused of tampering with a government record, which is a felony offense, and Daleiden was charged with attempting to purchase human organs, a misdemeanor. 

 “The grand jury took the investigation where the facts led it,” said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson. However, she said Texas law limits what can be investigated after a grand jury’s time is extended ― which happened in this case ― and “in light of this and after careful research and review,” the indictments were dismissed. (Apparently the misdemeanor charges had been dropped earlier.)

Get a load of how Deleiden and his supporters are representing this news:

Daleiden and his supporters framed Tuesday’s news as a First Amendment win. “Daleiden used standard undercover journalism techniques and followed all applicable laws in doing so,” said Peter Breen, an attorney with the Thomas More Society who is representing Daleiden. “Planned Parenthood did wrong here, not David Daleiden,” he added.

Well they should not celebrate too soon because there is still an investigation underway in California, not to mention all of the civil cases filed against them.

The guy is a manipulative POS and I certainly hope that SOMEBODY sends his ass to prison.

A year after the Center for Medical Progress released those doctored videos attacking Planned Parenthood, things have never been better for the organization.

Courtesy of Broadly Vice: 

Officials in 13 states have investigated the Center for Medical Progress's claims and cleared Planned Parenthood of all wrongdoing; officials in eight other states declined to even investigate the reproductive health organization, citing a lack of evidence. In addition, Planned Parenthood no longer accepts reimbursement for its fetal tissue donation program, in order to dispel "the ludicrous idea that Planned Parenthood has any financial interest in fetal tissue donation," according to an October statement from Cecile Richards, the group's president.

While Planned Parenthood has been cleared, the Center for Medical Progress remains under heavy legal scrutiny: In surreptitiously recording abortion providers as part of their "sting operation," the group is accused of fraud and trespassing, among other charges, as well as engaging in a "complex criminal enterprise." 

If anything, according to Laguens, the Center for Medical Progress's tactics have backfired. "Over the last year, millions of people have taken action and have made known their use of and their support of Planned Parenthood," she said. "There's been an outpouring of appreciation for what Planned Parenthood has meant for the country and what Planned Parenthood has meant to individual people's lives." 

She pointed to the recent Supreme Court decision, which struck down Texas's onerous clinic restrictions, as further proof that disingenuous, political attacks on women's bodily autonomy are failing. 

"The real criminals have been exposed and are now facing lawsuits and criminal charges," Laguens added. "I think it couldn't be more different than on the day that they launched. While there's certainly a long way to go and a lot to do, it's a very hopeful time."

That was one of the most dishonest attacks I have ever seen.

Nice to see that in the end it only made its target stronger and virtually destroyed themselves in the attempt. 

New technology will now allow anti-abortion groups to target women's phones. Gee thanks science!

Courtesy of Mother Jones:

A new investigation by Rewire, a reproductive health news service, shows that anti-abortion groups are moving beyond their time-honored approaches of picketing clinics and shouting at women: Now they're going digital, thanks to a technology known as mobile geofencing that can be used to target women through smartphones. 

The technology is typically used by advertisers who want to hone in on a target audience in a specific location. Have you ever gotten an ad for Lyft or Uber right after landing at an airport in a new city? That's an example of mobile geofencing in action. 

 A Boston advertising executive named John Flynn realized the technology could be used to target women seeking an abortion, and to send information on crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies straight to their smartphones. Rewire reports that Flynn began marketing his presentations on the technology to anti-abortion groups such as RealOptions, a Northern California crisis pregnancy center network, and Bethany Christian Services, an evangelical adoption agency, and they quickly saw the potential. 

Flynn's technology allows a geofence to be built around Planned Parenthood clinics and other abortion facilities, so anti-abortion messages may be sent to smartphones in clinic waiting rooms.

So if this technology targets women (How do they know it's women?) that are approaching these Planned Parenthood clinics that obviously means that a number of women who are going there for birth control or a cancer screening are going to receive this spam on their phones, telling them not to abort their non-existent fetuses.

This seems incredibly intrusive especially since these "crisis pregnancy" centers are notoriously full of misinformation about abortion, birth control, and even sex itself.

I think there should be a law against this.

Maybe when Hillary Clinton is President she will pass one. (Sorry couldn't resist.)

Ted Cruz to name Carly Fiorina as his running mate. Oh yeah, THAT will help. Update!

Courtesy of HuffPo: 

Presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) intends to name former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina as his vice presidential running mate if he succeeds in winning the GOP nomination, multiple sources reported Wednesday. 

Cruz’s move is seen as a last-minute gambit in hopes of shaking up the race and blocking front-runner Donald Trump, who easily swept five primary states across the Northeast on Tuesday. 

Personally I have no idea how appointing one of the most anti-female female candidates in history is going to help Cruz at this point, but hey when you are desperately grabbing at anything to stay afloat even a rusty anvil looks promising at first glance.

I am so sure that Carly Fiornia's attacks on Planned Parenthood and lies about what she saw in those doctored videos is really going to go over big with those soccer moms. Assuming that soccer moms is still a thing of course.

You would think he might have learned the lesson from John McCain when he made a similar mistake back in 2008.

Speaking of Sarah Palin you know that somewhere she is pressing her thighs together and muttering to herself that soon it will be time for Donald Trump to reward HER for her dedicated ass kissing, just like Cruz is rewarding Fiorina.

"Second time's a charm America, this time around my brand new elderly sugar daddy and I are going all the way!"

Update: It looks like Palin has decided to try and make herself part of the news day by mocking Ted Cruz for his basketball gaffe in Indiana:

Damn speaking of having a shelf life hasn't the expiration date been reached on this tired old basketball trope of Palin's?

After all she was as much of a basketball star as she was a hunter, or journalism major, or book author.

Meaning, you know, not.

The guy who shot and killed three people and injured nine others in the Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic actually tried to blow the place up as well.

Courtesy of the Washington Post:  

The man accused of killing three people and injuring nine others during a shooting rampage at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado last year told police he unsuccessfully tried to set off an explosion during this siege, according to authorities. 

Detectives said that Robert Lewis Dear Jr., who has been held without bond since the November shooting, told them he brought propane tanks to the Colorado Springs clinic thinking that they would blow up when he shot them. Dear did shoot them, but the explosion never happened, police said. 

This was one of several details included in a set of documents released Monday by a Colorado court. These documents — an arrest report and a set of search warrants — offer a new account of how the shooting spree unfolded. They also provide a glimpse at Dear’s state of mind, describing how he told detectives that he expected to go to heaven and “be met by all the aborted fetuses at the gates of heaven and they would thank him.”

I think expecting to be thanked by a bunch of fetuses is a pretty good indicator of mental illness. 

You know if this guy were inspired by ISIS we would be going after the individuals who inspired him to commit his act of terror and taking them out.

So with that in mind just when will the Feds lock this little prick up and throw away the key?

David Daleiden the guy behind the doctored videos attacking Planned Parenthood.

Governor Rick Scott actually makes a commercial attacking the woman who called him out in a local Starbucks for cutting Medicaid.

"Latte Liberal?" Well that woman certainly got under SOMEBODY'S skin.

But was she really that wrong?

Courtesy of the LA Times: 

Local fact-checkers have picked apart Jennings' spiel and found it wanting in a few particulars, though it certainly remains well within the accepted margin of error of standard political discourse. Scott's efforts to bring Florida within the ACA's orbit have been halting and cynical. He opposed Medicaid expansion at first, then reversed himself and offered to expand it for three years only, after which it would have to be reauthorized. But he didn't push hard enough to get even that through the Legislature. 

Scott has attacked the Obama administration for failing to extend federal funding for its low-income pool, a program aimed at helping Florida hospitals with the costs of uncompensated care that expired in 2015. But as federal officials have pointed out, the remedy for the loss of this funding is to expand Medicaid, which Florida has refused to do. Essentially, Scott wants the feds to pick up the tab for his own failing. 

Then there's HB 1411, the law Scott signed in March, which purports to cut off state funding of abortion, but imposes excessive restrictions on abortion clinics similar to those already being challenged in Texas and elsewhere. Scott tried to minimize the impact of the law by saying that Planned Parenthood only received $114,000 a year in state funding, but Planned Parenthood says the real sum is more than twice that, and adds that "because the legislation is broadly written, Planned Parenthood will also lose access to reimbursements from local government entities and federal funding from the Title X program that is contracted through local county Health Departments."

So no she wasn't wrong.

And as for those jobs that Scott is bragging about, well really had little or nothing to do with his policies.

In fact the job growth in this country is typically credited to President Obama and his administration.

You know, the President that Rick Scott typically vilifies at every opportunity.

Gee it seems that if a fella defunds Planned Parenthood he can't even go out for a coffee without somebody shaming him for it.

Courtesy of Injustice:  

Rick Scott, the Trump-loving, women-hating governor of Florida, can’t even visit a local Starbucks for a caffeine fix without hearing from disgruntled Floridians enraged over his political theater. 

Cara Jennings, a 39 year old woman from Gainesville, happened to be in the local Starbucks when the Governor popped in unannounced for a drink. 

Jennings decided in the moment to let him know just what she thought of his recent decisions to de-fund Planned Parenthood and significantly cut Medicaid. 

“You cut Medicaid, so I couldn’t get Obamacare, said Jennings pointing her finger at Scott and simultaneously silencing one of his aides trying in vain to intervene, “You’re an a–hole. You don’t care about working people. You should be ashamed to show your face around here.”

I LOVE how Scott runs out of the Starbucks with his tail between his legs.

Well now this woman is my new hero.

Good for her in standing up for women all over her state, and calling this guy exactly what he is, an asshole.

California investigators raid home of guy who made doctored Planned Parenthood videos, take laptop and hard drives as evidence.

Courtesy of Politico:  

California investigators on Tuesday evening searched the apartment of David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist behind the series of sting videos released last summer showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing fees for fetal tissue and organs. 

California Attorney General Kamala Harris said last summer that she would investigate whether Daleiden broke laws in the course of his sting operation, which spurred a huge political battle over Planned Parenthood's federal funding. Daleiden filmed part of his project in Planned Parenthood clinics in California.

Investigators took Daleiden's personal laptop and multiple hard drives from his Orange County, Calif., home, according to a source close to Daleiden. They also attempted to take his phone as he was talking to his attorneys, the source said. 

Daleiden has denied that he broke any laws. But officials with Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Federation and their allies say he used false identification, broke confidentiality agreements and recorded without consent, among other charges. Besides facing at least two civil lawsuits, Daleiden has been indicted in Harris County, Texas, for using false identification and trying to buy human tissue. He posted bond in February.

What? You mean you can't use a false identification and then doctor video to attack an organization that provides health care services for women?

Who knew?

I hope they put his ass away for decades. 

Senators in Missouri want to hold the president of Planned Parenthood in contempt of court for refusing to surrender private medical records.

Courtesy of Raw Story:  

Senators in Missouri are moving to hold the president of a St Louis-area Planned Parenthood affiliate in contempt of court – under threat of jail time – for refusing to submit private medical documents. 

The move comes after the state general assembly’s committee on the sanctity of life subpoenaed documents from Mary Kogut, the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of the St Louis Region and Southwest Missouri, in an investigation into her organization. 

The subpoena, issued in November, called for Kogut to turn over any and all consent forms signed by the patient in the process of receiving abortion care at the St Louis affiliate. It also seeks documents that make reference to Dr Mary Gatter and Dr Deborah Nucatola, two Planned Parenthood staff members who are prominently featured in widely debunked “sting” videos by the activist group the Center for Medical Progress (CMP). The videos alleged that Planned Parenthood affiliate health centers throughout the US were engaging in the illegal sale of fetal tissue donation. 

A lawyer responded on behalf of Planned Parenthood that the committee did not have the authority to subpoena these documents, and that handing them over would violate federal privacy law. 

Despite these legal objections, the Missouri senate will begin a hearing Tuesday to introduce a bill determining whether Kogut should be found in contempt.

Amazing to see the impact those doctored videos continue to have despite the fact that they were proven to be full of lies and incredibly misleading.

The Republicans will not stop until there is not one clinic left to provide abortion services to women in this country despite the fact that they are perfectly legal.

Unreleased footage and court records show that the folks behind those doctored Planned Parenthood videos planted anti-abortion phrases and coerced false testimony from interviewees.

David Daleiden

Courtesy of he LA Times:  

The videos and court records show that Daleiden and his associates — posing as representatives of a fetal tissue brokerage — tried to loosen the tongues of abortion providers with alcohol.

In conversations, they tried to plant phrases such as “fully intact baby” and to elicit statements suggesting that fetuses were alive when their tissue and organs were harvested for use in medical research. 

A comparison of raw footage and the videos he released shows that Daleiden edited out material that conflicted with his premise that Planned Parenthood-affiliated clinics profit from the sale of fetal tissue for research purposes. 

Daleiden, asked for comment, said: “I think our methods are really credible.” His lawyers have said Daleiden employed common tools of investigative reporting.

Bullshit!

Remember this  woman from the videos?

Well she was carefully rehearsed before she shared her "first hand" accounts of what she saw:  

In footage made public last July, Holly O’Donnell said she had been traumatized by her work for a fetal-tissue brokerage. She described feeling “pain...and death and eternity” and said she fainted the first time she touched the remains of an aborted fetus. 

Unreleased footage filed in a civil court case shows that O’Donnell’s apparently spontaneous reflections were carefully rehearsed. David Daleiden, the anti-abortion activist who made the videos, is heard coaching O’Donnell through repeated takes, instructing her to repeat anecdotes, add details, speak “fluidly” and be “very natural.” 

“Let’s try it two more times,” he told her at one point. 

Later, O’Donnell protested: “I don’t want to tell that story again. Please don’t make me again, David.”

You know I've conducted interviews before, and the rule of thumb is NEVER to rehearse the answers and to instead let the information come out fresh and off the cuff.

Oh, and let's not forget honest.

Do you know who rehearses supposedly candid remarks over and over again?

Reality shows.

Yet based on these fraudulent and amateurish videos Planned Parenthood is still under attack and we are still spending millions of dollars in tax payer money to "investigate" them. 

The anti-abortion witch hunt in response to those now discredited doctored Planned Parenthood videos is still going strong.

Rep. Marsha Blackburn.

Courtesy of the New York Times:  

A special House committee empaneled to investigate fetal tissue research is preparing to issue 17 subpoenas to medical supply companies and laboratories, seeking the names of researchers, graduate students, laboratory technicians and administrative personnel — and prompting charges of intimidation. 

Abortion rights advocates and some university officials say the House investigation into how some of the nation’s most prestigious universities acquire fetal tissue threatens to endanger the lives of scientists, doctors and their staff members. The new subpoenas will only escalate a battle that some researchers fear could shut down studies seeking cures for Parkinson’s disease, the Zika virus and other illnesses. 

Representative Marsha Blackburn, Republican of Tennessee, who opposes most fetal tissue research because of its association with abortion, intends to issue the subpoenas on behalf of the Republicans on the House Select Investigative Panel on Infant Lives. The panel was created to investigate fetal tissue research after the release of surreptitiously recorded videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to profit illegally from the sale of such tissue.

The article goes on to remind us that twenty states have investigated Planned Parenthood over those videos, and all of them have found cleared them of any wrongdoing.

Other states that were urged by conservative lawmakers to launch investigations decided there was not enough evidence to warrant such a response.

And yet Republicans in Congress see no problem with potentially destroying the lives of these lab technicians, students, and doctors, not to mention halting important research that could save thousands of lives, simply because they don't like abortion and the doctored Planned Parenthood videos gave them an excuse to overreact.