Anti-abortion activists made their point
Indictments against two anti-abortion activists issued Monday in Houston might have been a “gotcha” surprise, but they won’t do anything to settle controversies about abortion.
In fact, even in their bumbling and apparently illegal way, activists David Daleiden, founder of the curiously named Center for Medical Progress, and Sandra Merritt may be the only people in decades who have nudged the public opinion needle on abortion.
Their surreptitiously obtained videos — so heavily edited, Planned Parenthood says, as to be inaccurate portrayals of actual events — introduced many in the general public for the first time to the concept of clinics sending tissue from aborted fetuses for use in medical research.
The donation is legal, perhaps a valuable gift to science. It’s legal for abortion clinics to seek reimbursement for the cost of obtaining and storing that tissue. It is illegal to sell human tissue.
Still, the whole concept sent many people reeling.
Graphic images of fetuses are powerful tools in the hands of those who fight against abortion. In this case, no one needs a picture — just the mental image of fetal tissue harvesting is repulsive to anyone of normal sensitivities.
Top government officials who have long positioned themselves as warriors against abortion seized on the videos, treated them as evidence of Planned Parenthood’s evil and started new efforts to strip the organization of all public healthcare funding.
Gov. Greg Abbott said Monday the indictments would not stop the political machinery moving against Planned Parenthood.
“The State of Texas will continue to protect life, and I will continue to support legislation prohibiting the sale or transfer of fetal tissue,” Abbott said.
Regardless of its incendiary success, the Center for Medical Progress should be seen as an unprincipled actor now laid bare by a grand jury’s action.
Grand jurors found no illegal acts by Planned Parenthood, yet they delivered felony fraud indictments against Daleiden and Merritt for using fake California drivers licenses to gain entry into a clinic run by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast.
Daleiden also faces a misdemeanor charge of attempting to buy fetal tissue.
CMP said it used “the same undercover techniques investigative journalists have used for decades.”
Don’t believe that.
Respectable investigative journalists do not employ fake documents or fraud. Anyone who does should face legal consequences.
This story was originally published January 26, 2016 at 5:30 PM with the headline "Anti-abortion activists made their point."