http://socialistaction.org/planned-parenthood-cleared-of-false-charges/
Planned Parenthood cleared of false charges
Published February 1, 2016. | By Socialist Action.
Planned-Parenthood-Supporters-998x664
By ANN MONTAGUE
Jan. 22 marked the 43rd anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade
decision, which ruled that abortion is a fundamental right under the
U.S. Constitution. Rallies in cities around the country reflected the
fact that the right to abortion continues to be under attack through
state restrictions, continual anti-abortion rhetoric, and specific
attacks on Planned Parenthood.
This past year, those attacks included not only continual harassment of
Planned Parenthood clinics but a gunman entering the clinic in Colorado
Springs, Col., and killing three and wounding nine people. In addition,
in July, an anti-abortion organization, Center for Medical Progress
(CMP), made allegations that a Planned Parenthood clinic in Houston had
attempted to illegally profit from selling fetal tissue. This resulted
in cries from politicians to defund Planned Parenthood.
In a surprising turn of events, three days after the nationwide rallies
to support Roe v. Wade, a grand jury in Harris County, Texas, cleared
the Houston Planned Parenthood clinic of all the charges. Moreover, it
indicted the top leaders of the CMP organization who had prompted the
investigation in the first place.
CMP founder David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were both charged with
using fake driver’s licenses, and Daleiden was charged with violating
the Texas law prohibiting the purchase and sale of human organs, the
same law that he accused Planned Parenthood of breaking. He had sent an
e-mail to Planned Parenthood seeking to buy fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood and their Houston lawyer Josh Schaffer used an
unconventional strategy. Instead of taking on a defensive posture, they
cooperated fully with the investigators. They volunteered documents,
encouraged prosecutors to interview employees, and gave them free rein
of their facility.
Texas officials had demanded a criminal investigation after the
anti-abortion activists had posted videos on line that they claimed
showed clinic employees discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue.
Planned Parenthood initiated an outside study, which resulted in
discovering the videos were deceptively edited.
The Planned Parenthood statement about the indictments was clear: “These
anti-abortion extremists spent three years creating a fake company,
creating fake identities, lying, and breaking the law, and when they
couldn’t find any improper or illegal activity, they made it up.”
This is an important victory on the long road to protecting a woman’s
right to abortion. The next struggle involves the U.S. Supreme Court.
In June the U.S Supreme Court is scheduled to make a decision on Health
v. Cole, which according to the Center For Reproductive Rights is
designed to shut down more than 75% of all women’s health clinics that
provide abortion services in the state of Texas. Roe v. Wade was won
because feminists demanded an end to back-alley abortions and the right
to safe and legal abortion. We will need a strong, visible movement to
fight yet another attempt at chipping away at that right.
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Posted in Women's Liberation. | Tagged abortion, Planned Parenthood, Roe.
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