{"id":83006,"date":"2015-12-21T13:39:15","date_gmt":"2015-12-21T18:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=83006"},"modified":"2015-12-22T11:25:53","modified_gmt":"2015-12-22T16:25:53","slug":"free-speech-stake-in-lawsuit-against-center-for-medical-progress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/free-speech-stake-in-lawsuit-against-center-for-medical-progress\/","title":{"rendered":"Free speech at stake in lawsuit against Center for Medical Progress"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

In July, the National Abortion Federation (NAF) sued the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) accusing CMP of using fake names, infiltration, and hidden cameras to obtain information about the abortion industry’s practices.\u00a0San Francisco Judge William Orrick granted NAF a temporary restraining order to prevent the release of the tapes. Now, prior to Orrick’s issuing of a\u00a0ruling in the case, he has stated<\/a> that he believes\u00a0the tapes\u00a0“do not show criminal activity and could put the providers at risk,” according to the Associated Press. Orrick, in his comments,\u00a0“cit[ed] the recent shooting at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic.”<\/p>\n

While efforts to suppress the videos were making their way through the courts, GotNews.com somehow obtained the tapes and\u00a0published<\/a> them. And so far, no abortionist has been directly threatened as a result, said<\/a> Catherine Short, CMP’s attorney…<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\n

Orrick… [said]\u00a0doctors who have appeared in videos released by the center have received death threats. He also cited suspected arson at abortion clinics and the November shooting at the Colorado Springs Planned Parenthood clinic that left three people dead and nine wounded.<\/p>\n

Catherine Short, an attorney for the Center for Medical Progress, said there was no evidence the Colorado shooter was motivated by the group’s videos or that doctors have been directly threatened. The release of the recordings is vital to furthering public discussion about topics such as whether the country’s abortion laws are too loosely written, she said.\u00a0The center says in court documents its work is the equivalent of investigative journalism and protected by the First Amendment<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And, Short is correct, investigative journalism is not only protected by the First Amendment but the tactics used by CMP have been used by journalists in all sorts of investigations as Live Action News has detailed\u00a0here<\/a>. In fact, free speech issues in this case are so great that the U.S. Reporters’ Committee filed a ‘friend of the Court’ submission<\/a> before the district court hearing NAF’s case:<\/p>\n

\n

We are compelled to write at this early juncture because any prior restraint on speech that is issued by a court has the potential to significantly affect the First Amendment rights of the news media and the public at large. The ramifications of having such a restraint in place go well beyond the unique facts of this dispute.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

In their lawsuit, NAF claimed that CMP infiltrators \u201csnuck into\u201d their allegedly secure and supposedly private meetings to obtain video evidence that their members were buying fetal tissue. In response to the lawsuit, CMP claimed<\/a> that their investigators conducted their investigation legally, and that NAF welcomed lead investigator David Daleiden<\/a> and the other investigators as dealers in fetal tissue believing that Daleiden’s test company, BioMax, would pay abortion providers for fetal specimens. “NAF even provided Daleiden unsolicited information about the meeting’s agenda and location,” attorneys for CMP stated<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Pro-lifers who have viewed the leaked tapes say that the NAF lawsuit is equivalent to censorship because NAF does not want the public to know the truth about abortion. The videos show plenty of evidence that NAF members were not only involved in harvesting fetal tissue but were holding presentations about the process during their meetings. A sampling of a few of the recordings show:<\/p>\n