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Planned Parenthood filed a racketeering lawsuit against anti-abortion activist David Daleiden and his Center for Medical Progress group on Thursday, calling the group "a complex criminal enterprise conceived and executed by anti-abortion extremists."
In July, the CMP began releasing edited videos of conversations with Planned Parenthood doctors, secretly recorded by anti-abortion activists posing as medical tissue firm officials. The videos claimed they exposed illegal sales of fetal tissues by Planned Parenthood, as well as illegal abortion procedures.
Planned Parenthood denied the claims, which sparked investigations in at least eight states and Congressional hearings, releasing a report calling the videos deceptive. Now the women's health organization, which performs about a third of all abortions nationwide, is filing suit in the Northern California federal district against the CMP.
"The express aim of the enterprise— which stretched over years and involved fake companies, fake identifications, and large-scale illegal taping was a to demonize Planned Parenthood," says the lawsuit.
"Planned Parenthood provides high-quality compassionate care and has done nothing wrong," Kathy Kneer, head of Planned Parenthood's Northern California affiliate, in a briefing on the lawsuit.
BuzzFeed News has asked Daleiden to comment on the lawsuit.
Racketeering lawsuits typically ask for triple damages, and the lawsuit asks for a legal halt to video releases.
from BuzzFeed - USNews http://ift.tt/1PugdnN
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