A grand jury has returned the condemnation against the two members of anti-abortion groups that targeted Planned Parenthood with a series of undercover videos last year. With that, the felony indictments are just the outcome as the panel was originally tasked with the investigation of the group, claiming that Planned Parenthood was selling fetal tissue.
According to Slate, a grand jury in Harris County, Texas, which is panelled to investigate the criminal wrongdoing by the Planned Parenthood. It has been determined after two months of review that the only indictments warranted in this case were to be targeted at the two anti-abortion activists who filmed and released a string of videos just last year.
The Harris County district attorney declared that the surprise condemnation against the Center for Medical Progress' David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for the felony of corrupting a government record. Daleiden then received a second indictment for the misdemeanor prohibition on the procurement of human body parts.
The New York Times reported that David R. Daleiden, which is the director of the center, had posed as a biotechnology representative to infiltrate Planned Parenthood affiliates and sneakily record his efforts to secure the fetal tissue for research. Another center employee, Sandra S. Merritt was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record.
The record-tampering charges alleged Daleiden and Merritt of making and presenting fake California driver's licenses. They are also faced with the intent to defraud, for their April meeting at Planned Parenthood in Houston.
Abortion critics said that the videos, which were released in July revealed that Planned Parenthood was involved with the illegal selling of body parts. This is a charge that the organization, then denied and it claimed that it had not been supported in a lot of congressional and state investigations triggered by the release of the videos.
Additionally, a Republican-led board in Congress charged with investigating Planned Parenthood has claimed that it will not back down despite other states have cleared the group of wrongdoing. But the leader of the panel, Rep. Marsha Blackburn did not immediately respond to the grand jury decision on Monday.
A national spokesman for Planned Parenthood, Eric Ferrero, wrote in a statement that Daleiden and Merritt "broke the law to spread malicious lies" about the group in their effort to make abortion illegal. "We're glad they're being held accountable," he stated via The Hill.
Meanwhile, an arrest warrant was issued late Monday and the documents detailed the charges expected to be available on Tuesday. Moreover, the videographers, who buys the tissue and filmed interactions with Planned Parenthood executives, already issued a statement saying that they had not committed the crime.
