Judge considers if David Daleiden violated court order by sharing unseen undercover footage

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Thursday, April 18, 2024

David Daleiden, a defendant in an indictment stemming from a Planned Parenthood video he helped produce, speaks to the media after appearing in court at the Harris County Courthouse on February 4, 2016, in Houston, Texas. Daleiden is facing an indictment on a misdemeanor count of purchasing human organs and, along with defendant Sandra Merritt, is charged with tampering with a governmental record. | Eric Kayne/Getty Images

A federal judge appeared to reluctantly agree that pro-life activist David Daleiden did not violate a permanent injunction by reposting previously unseen undercover footage of National Abortion Federation meetings after Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., played them during a recent congressional hearing.

David Daleiden is the project lead at the Center for Medical Progress, the pro-life investigative group behind a series of undercover videos released in 2015 that show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the illegal sale of aborted baby body parts. Planned Parenthood has repeatedly denied the group’s allegations.

Daleiden and one of his fellow investigators, Sandra Merrit, also secretly recorded conversations that took place at conferences hosted by the National Abortion Federation in 2014 and 2015.

NAF filed a lawsuit in response to the videos, resulting in a permanent injunction that prohibited Daleiden from publishing materials from the events. Planned Parenthood also sued, resulting in a $2.4 million verdict.

Senior U.S. District Judge William Orrick expressed misgivings about Daleiden reposting several videos from the NAF conferences online, Courthouse News Service reported Monday. However, the judge appeared to concede that the footage was already shared during a public congressional hearing.

Last month, Daleiden testified alongside pro-life activist Terrisa Bukovinac at a hearing led by Greene and joined by Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Mary Miller of Illinois. During the hearing, which sought answers about how the abortion industry handles aborted baby body parts, Greene played several of CMP’s previously unseen undercover videos.

While the faces of the individuals were obscured, Daleiden provided additional information about the content in the videos in response to Greene’s questions.

In one of the videos played during the hearing, Planned Parenthood New York City’s Medical Director for abortion services, Dr. Stacy De-Lin, said her bosses would be "very happy" if they could be paid as high as $1,000 to $1,500 per intact liver.

In another clip featuring Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Ann Schutt-Ainé, an abortionist, is heard describing how she might use forceps to “pull off a leg or two, so it’s not PBA.” According to Daleiden, Schutt-Ainé is talking about trying to hide a violation of the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act by mutilating the baby’s body.

After the hearing, the pro-life activist published the videos played during the hearing on his website and social media pages, in addition to naming the individuals featured in the footage, according to Courthouse News Service.

In an April 4 X post, Daleiden posted a copy of Orrick’s clarification of a previous order from earlier this month to take down the videos. According to an April 3 X post from the pro-life activist, NAF filed a motion for Orrick to hold Daleiden and his organization in contempt for supposedly violating the permanent injunction by sharing the footage played at the hearing.

According to Courthouse News Service, Orrick seemed doubtful that he could enforce the permanent injunction but did allow for the redaction of abortion providers’ names in court documents. The federal judge also stated that he could not stop Daleiden from identifying the providers, noting that the activist learned who they were due to circumstances unrelated to the videos and the injunction.

“I remain concerned about the personal safety issues that I’ve expressed throughout this litigation, and I don’t think time has assuaged my concern with respect to that. That said, I’m not aware of any control or authority that I have with respect to congressional conduct,” Orrick said.

Christina Dierolf, NAF’s counsel, argued that the permanent injunction still prohibits Daleiden from publishing the videos and the names of the providers he met at the conferences, “regardless of the source of that information.”

Orrick provided Dierolf with a week to find a similar case that found barring the release of footage shared during a congressional hearing did not violate the First Amendment, according to Courthouse News Service.

The federal judge addressed Daleiden’s lawyer, Mark Meuser, clarifying that the pro-life activist does not have the right to publish additional footage from NAF conferences. The judge also requested that Daleiden notify him or seek permission in the future before publishing such information.

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman