Pro-life investigators ordered to pay $1.5 million in Planned Parenthood baby parts case
The five pro-life activists are also liable for attorney fees, which will likely add millions more to what they owe America's largest abortion chain.
SAN FRANCISCO, California, April 30, 2020 (LifeSiteNews) – A judge in San Francisco has ruled that the pro-life defendants in the Planned Parenthood Federation of America v. Center for Medical Progress case – popularly known as the “baby body parts case” – must pay Planned Parenthood over $1.5 million, not including attorney fees which will likely add millions more
to what they owe the abortion-committing behemoth.
In November, after the six-week courtroom drama presided over by United States District Judge William H. Orrick concluded, a jury took less than two days to find the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and its undercover investigators guilty of multiple crimes, including violating
the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, wiretapping, and engaging in civil conspiracy.
The roster of those found liable reads like a who’s who of pro-life all stars: Troy Newman, longtime pro-life activist and president of Operation Rescue; David Daleiden, project lead of CMP who became the face of the investigation; Sandra Merritt; Albin Rhomberg;
and Gerardo Adrian Lopez. Each has been found “joint and severally liable” for the $1,555,084 judgment.
to what they owe the abortion-committing behemoth.
In November, after the six-week courtroom drama presided over by United States District Judge William H. Orrick concluded, a jury took less than two days to find the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) and its undercover investigators guilty of multiple crimes, including violating
the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, wiretapping, and engaging in civil conspiracy.
The roster of those found liable reads like a who’s who of pro-life all stars: Troy Newman, longtime pro-life activist and president of Operation Rescue; David Daleiden, project lead of CMP who became the face of the investigation; Sandra Merritt; Albin Rhomberg;
and Gerardo Adrian Lopez. Each has been found “joint and severally liable” for the $1,555,084 judgment.
“It is no longer in dispute that Planned Parenthood sold aborted baby parts for profit and that our video evidence was authentic.
They admitted it during our trial,” Newman said in a just-released statement. Newman served as a founding board
member of CMP during the undercover investigation.
“I believe when the full truth is finally told – and it wasn’t at our trial – we will all be exonerated, and it will be Planned Parenthood
that will be held liable for their crimes in a court of law,” said Newman. “I look forward to that day.”
In 2015, CMP released videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s apparently illegal trade in aborted
baby body parts after a 30-month undercover operation.
They admitted it during our trial,” Newman said in a just-released statement. Newman served as a founding board
member of CMP during the undercover investigation.
“I believe when the full truth is finally told – and it wasn’t at our trial – we will all be exonerated, and it will be Planned Parenthood
that will be held liable for their crimes in a court of law,” said Newman. “I look forward to that day.”
In 2015, CMP released videos exposing Planned Parenthood’s apparently illegal trade in aborted
baby body parts after a 30-month undercover operation.
Center for Medical Progress lead investigator David Daleiden SOURCE: American Life League
The groundbreaking videos showed top-level Planned Parenthood executives haggling over prices of aborted baby body parts and discussing how to change abortion procedures to obtain more intact organs. The videos sparked public outrage, congressional and senate hearings,
and an ongoing Department of Justice criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood.
The lawsuit pitted “those who practice, advocate for, and profit from unthinkably cruel and barbaric acts on the tiniest of humans
against a few individuals who had the tenacity, courage, resourcefulness, and faith to walk into the heart of darkness
to expose trafficking in the brains, hearts, livers, lungs, and limbs of pre-born babies,” said LifeSiteNews’ Lianne Laurence,
who travelled to San Francisco last fall to cover the civil trial.
The groundbreaking videos showed top-level Planned Parenthood executives haggling over prices of aborted baby body parts and discussing how to change abortion procedures to obtain more intact organs. The videos sparked public outrage, congressional and senate hearings,
and an ongoing Department of Justice criminal investigation into Planned Parenthood.
The lawsuit pitted “those who practice, advocate for, and profit from unthinkably cruel and barbaric acts on the tiniest of humans
against a few individuals who had the tenacity, courage, resourcefulness, and faith to walk into the heart of darkness
to expose trafficking in the brains, hearts, livers, lungs, and limbs of pre-born babies,” said LifeSiteNews’ Lianne Laurence,
who travelled to San Francisco last fall to cover the civil trial.
Sandra Merritt SOURCE: Jim Hale / LifeSiteNews
In her analysis of the proceedings, Laurence explained:
The significance of the case cannot be overestimated.
This lawsuit is Planned Parenthood’s desperate attempt to permanently discredit the undercover videos the Center for Medical Progress released in 2015 that exposed its part in trafficking baby body parts. The casual brutality of abortionists discussing crushing unborn babies and haggling over the price of fetal organs shocked the world and Planned Parenthood wants to convey that those who exposed them
– not their giant abortion corporation – are in the wrong.
It’s also a retaliatory action: Planned Parenthood wants to to crush the pro-life advocates who went undercover and exposed them.
The plaintiffs allege CMP’s project lead David Daleiden, undercover journalists Sandra Merritt and Geraldo Adrian Lopez, and founding board members Troy Newman and Albin Rhomberg, committed 15 crimes while carrying out the undercover video project, ranging from breach of contract to racketeering. They claim CMP is liable for paying for everything Planned Parenthood’s personnel bought,
such as security upgrades and staff counselling hotlines, after they realized they’d been recorded.
In her analysis of the proceedings, Laurence explained:
The significance of the case cannot be overestimated.
This lawsuit is Planned Parenthood’s desperate attempt to permanently discredit the undercover videos the Center for Medical Progress released in 2015 that exposed its part in trafficking baby body parts. The casual brutality of abortionists discussing crushing unborn babies and haggling over the price of fetal organs shocked the world and Planned Parenthood wants to convey that those who exposed them
– not their giant abortion corporation – are in the wrong.
It’s also a retaliatory action: Planned Parenthood wants to to crush the pro-life advocates who went undercover and exposed them.
The plaintiffs allege CMP’s project lead David Daleiden, undercover journalists Sandra Merritt and Geraldo Adrian Lopez, and founding board members Troy Newman and Albin Rhomberg, committed 15 crimes while carrying out the undercover video project, ranging from breach of contract to racketeering. They claim CMP is liable for paying for everything Planned Parenthood’s personnel bought,
such as security upgrades and staff counselling hotlines, after they realized they’d been recorded.
Les défendeurs cités dans le jugement sont:
ainsi que CMP et son alter-ego BioMax.
- David Daleiden, 31 ans, a développé et dirigé l'opération d'infiltration d'infiltration et est le visage public très médiatisé du CMP.
- Troy Newman, 54 ans, un activiste vétéran pro-vie, est bien connu comme le président de l'opération Rescue.
- Sandra Merritt , 66 ans, une grand-mère qui dirigeait une entreprise à domicile et était enseignante à temps partiel, est familière en tant que co-accusée avec Daleiden dans une poursuite pénale en cours en Californie.
- Gerardo Adrian Lopez , 28 ans, est employé par la Marine en tant que corpsman d'hôpital dans une unité néonatale de soins intensifs, et s'est impliqué dans l'opération d'infiltration après que Daleiden l'a rencontré quand il travaillait chez Starbucks et l'a embauché pour transcrire les vidéos.
- Albin Rhomberg est un défenseur et un enquêteur pro-vie de longue date qui a fait des études supérieures en physique des particules à haute énergie, enseigné la physique à l'Université du Wisconsin et travaillé dans le programme spatial au Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory et au Johnson Space Flight Center au Texas. : en d'autres termes, il est un spécialiste des fusées.
ainsi que CMP et son alter-ego BioMax.
The defendants named in the judgment are:
as well as CMP and its alter-ego BioMax.
- David Daleiden, 31, developed and ran the undercover sting operation and is the high-profile, public face of CMP.
- Troy Newman, 54, a veteran pro-life activist, is well-known as the president of Operation Rescue.
- Sandra Merritt, 66, a grandmother who ran a home business and was a part-time teacher, is familiar as co-defendant with Daleiden in an ongoing California state criminal prosecution.
- Gerardo Adrian Lopez, 28, is employed by the Navy as a hospital corpsman in an intensive care neonatal unit, and got involved in the undercover operation after Daleiden met him when he worked at Starbucks and hired him to transcribe the videos.
- Albin Rhomberg is a longtime pro-life advocate and investigator who did graduate studies in high-energy particle physics, taught physics at the University of Wisconsin, and worked in the space program at Caltech Jet Propulsion Laboratory and at the Johnson Space Flight Center in Texas: in other words, he’s a rocket scientist.
as well as CMP and its alter-ego BioMax.