Supreme Court rejects anti-abortion group's appeal over videos
Washington -- The Supreme Court is rejecting an appeal from an anti-abortion group that surreptitiously recorded Planned Parenthood employees.
The justices joined lower courts Monday in allowing Planned Parenthood's racketeering and other claims against the Center for Medical Progress (CMP) to proceed.
Two members of the group also are facing criminal charges in California over the secret recordings. In 2015, the Center for Medical Progress released several secretly recorded videos that it said showed Planned Parenthood employees selling fetal tissue for profit, which is illegal. Planned Parenthood has said it abides by a law that allows providers to be reimbursed for the costs of processing tissue donated by women who have had abortions.
Planned Parenthood's lawsuit alleges that CMP engaged in wire and mail fraud, committed illegal secret recording and trespassing. The pro-abortion rights group is accusing CMP of lying to the IRS and the state of California in order to illegally get tax-exempt status. It also says that CMP set up a fake health care firm and used fake IDs to register at a private medical conferences on reproductive health.
According to Planned Parenthood, CMP also surreptitiously accessed the pro-abortion rights group's conferences to set up meetings with its staff and create deceptively edited and false videos that were posted online.
Planned Parenthood denied wrongdoing in connection with its fetal tissue practices.