On Monday afternoon, it was announced that a Houston, Texas, grand jury — which had been convened to investigate whether Planned Parenthood had engaged in any wrongdoing — chose not to indict the organization. Instead, they wound up indicting the very people who brought the supposed crimes to light.
This winding, messy affair began last fall when the Center for Medical Progress, a now-infamous anti-abortion organization, released videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood executives discussing the sale of aborted fetal tissue to turn a profit. As we noted in our last editorial discussing the furor surrounding Planned Parenthood, this naturally turned out to be a false claim. We also noted that the videos in question were found to have been heavily manipulated in order to perpetuate the center’s anti-abortion agenda. What’s more, several states conducted independent investigations of their own into Planned Parenthood following the release of the videos: They found that no disagreeable action, from either a moral or legal perspective, had been taken.
The aforementioned editorial was spurred on by the tragic shooting at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado on Nov. 27. After the shooter was apprehended, he muttered “no more baby parts” under his breath; this became a necessary and significant talking point in reports and think-pieces on the tragedy. Now, just as we did then, we attribute much of the blame behind the shooting to the Center for Medical Progress’ deceit and contemptible propaganda.
As reported by The New York Times, David R. Daleiden, the director for the CMP, was indicted on “a charge of tampering with a governmental record — a felony — and on a misdemeanor charge related to purchasing human organs.” Although the charges surrounding Daleiden concern how the videos were produced (using a fake driver’s license to meet with Planned Parenthood officials, creating a fictitious company, etc.) rather than the videos themselves, it is fitting that Daleiden has found himself indicted for the crime of perpetuating falsehoods; after all, this is what his own videos wound up doing.
The criminal indictments of Daleiden and Sandra S. Merritt, an employee for the CMP, are a much-needed vindication for Planned Parenthood. Thus far, many of the contentious battles waged in Washington, D.C., this decade have revolved around women’s health and how many resources should be at a woman’s disposal. It should come as a surprise to few that we at the Alligator firmly believe it is a woman’s right to choose what happens to her body. Hopefully, this surprise reversal in criminal proceedings will serve as a reminder to sexist legislators and religious criminals that right cannot and will not be taken away without a significant fight.
It is fortuitous that this news broke soon after the 43rd anniversary of Roe v. Wade, which occurred Friday. Gratifying though it may be to see the lies of the CMP become their very undoing in a timely, karmic fashion, there remains much work to be done. Sixteen years into the 21st century, the struggle to ensure every woman can dictate what happens to her body within the full protection of the law should be an unnecessary one. The debacle surrounding these videos belongs in our history books, not in our headlines.
