<p>In 2015, two officials from the anti-abortion group Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released a series of gruesome videos suggesting that Planned Parenthood was involved in the sale of fetal tissue. ;</p>
<p>The videos sparked a wave of outrage that helped propel Republicans to victory last November and led to investigations in 12 states. Since then, conservative ;lawmakers have proposed (but failed to pass) several bills to defund the organization.</p>
<p>The GOP-backed <em>American Health Care Act</em>, which passed through the House last week and is currently being negotiated in the Senate, aims to cut federal funding from Planned Parenthood for at least one year. ;</p>
<p>The infamous videos were filmed by CMP officials David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who posed as representatives of a fake biotechnology company in order to gain entry into abortion facilities. Their disguises included fake government IDs.</p>
<p>Merritt and Daleiden managed to record hundreds of hours of meetings and conversations. In March, California prosecutors charged Daleiden and Merritt with &ldquo;recording people without consent.&#8221; ;</p>
<p>California Attorney General Xavier Becerra has charged the pair with a whopping 15 felony charges, including criminal conspiracy to invade privacy and 14 counts of filming people without permission. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;The right to privacy is a cornerstone of California&rsquo;s Constitution,&rdquo; argues Becerra. &ldquo;And a right that is foundational in a free democratic society. We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Daleiden says the &ldquo;bogus&rdquo; charges were brought by &ldquo;Planned Parenthood&rsquo;s political cronies&rdquo; and suggested that he has more footage to release. &ldquo;We look forward to showing the entire world what is on our yet-unreleased video tapes of Planned Parenthood&rsquo;s criminal baby body parts enterprise, in vindication of the First Amendment rights of all.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Planned Parenthood continues to deny any wrongdoing, but has restricted affiliated clinics from accepting money in exchange for fetal tissue. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;Planned Parenthood has done nothing wrong,&rdquo; said PP spokeswoman Mary Alice Carter. &ldquo;The only people who broke the law are those behind the fraudulent tapes.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>As reported last week by WND, Merritt turned herself in on the charge that she had recorded people&rsquo;s discussions without consent. Her legal team says it took three judges over 10 hours for Merritt to be released on bail &ndash; which was set at a shocking $75,000. She faces up to 11 years in prison.</p>
<p>The Liberty Counsel lawyers defending her call the charges &ldquo;outrageous and baseless&rdquo; and criticize Becerra for charging Merritt rather than &ldquo;investigation and prosecuting Planned Parenthood, which donated thousands of dollars to his political campaigns.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>As the lawyers point out, &#8220;no other citizen or journalist or journalism organization has ever been charged with a crime for undercover recording.&rdquo; ;</p>
<p>Daleiden and Merritt responded to the charges by releasing yet another video, in which a former PP medical operator explains how she makes sure to dismember babies before removal in order to minimize the visual impact. ;</p>
<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s not a matter of how I felt&hellip;I&rsquo;ve got to worry about my staff, and you know, people&rsquo;s feelings about it, coming out looking like a baby,&rdquo; said DeShawn Taylor. ;</p>
<p><strong>Author&#8217;s Note:</strong> In my opinion, we should be focused on what was exposed by CMP&#8217;s investigation, not on how that information was acquired. ;</p>
<p>What Daleiden and Merritt did may have been illegal, but what Planned Parenthood is doing is far worse. As it stands, Planned Parenthood is still receiving $500 million in federal funding, and the whistleblowers are about to be thrown in jail.</p>