No new grand jury for two indicted in Planned Parenthood videos

Attorneys for anti-abortion activists who were indicted in Texas this week after making secret videos to expose Planned Parenthood said Wednesday that the charges have “no chance” of ending in convictions, and asked the county district attorney to allow another grand jury to investigate the organization.

To arrive at this turn of events, Planned Parenthood’s legal counsel says cooperation was the name of the game.

So explained a Texas district attorney about why an investigation into alleged misconduct by Planned Parenthood ended instead with charges against Planned Parenthood’s accusers.

“Any day that we can support Planned Parenthood is a good day”, said co-organizer Mike Miles. Others questioned the capacity of federally qualified health-care centers or pregnancy crisis centers to take on Planned Parenthood clientele, reports The Columbus Dispatch.

Four Democratic lawmakers are asking Gov. Gary Herbert to reverse his order cutting off federal funds to the state branch of Planned Parenthood after a Texas grand jury cleared another arm of the organization from wrongdoing.

Governor Rick Scott was among the Republican governors who called for an investigation into Florida’s Planned Parenthood. The evidence did however lead them to hand down indictments against David Daleiden and Susan Merritt.

Officials with the Center For Medical Progress did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Anderson also addressed a rumor that a prosecutor, who is also a Planned Parenthood board member, was involved in the prosecution.

Terry Yates, a Houston lawyer representing Merritt and Daleiden, told reporters the grand jury’s indictments “are legally and factually insufficient and are not going to hold up under the weight of the law”.

Assemblyman Steve Katz, R-Yorktown, is pushing legislation that would prohibit state funding for Planned Parenthood locations in NY.

Earlier this week, the individuals behind the recordings were indicted in Texas on a felony charge of tampering with a government record and a misdemeanor charge related to buying human tissue.

After the secret videos were released to the public, Planned Parenthood apologized for the casual way in which an employee discussed the transfer of fetal tissue and body parts. Thus far every investigation has shown that there was no wrongdoing on behalf of the organization. Daleiden is also charged with the purchase or sale of human organs. Fox News host Sean Hannity, on his Thursday radio show, blasted the grand jury’s actions as “a huge travesty of justice”. “The Governor reacted to a heavily edited, highly political video”, Minority Whip Rebecca Chavez-Houck, D-Salt Lake City, said in a press statement. Anderson’s office initially launched the grand jury investigation to look into Planned Parenthood after undercover videos surfaced claiming the nation’s largest abortion provider illegally sold fetal tissue to make a profit.