San
Francisco, CA – A three-member panel of the Ninth Circuit Court has
denied the appeal of a $2.4 million judgment levied against pro-life
journalists, including Operation Rescue President Troy Newman and
members of the Center for Medical Progress, who exposed Planned
Parenthood’s illegal trafficking of tissues and organs harvested from
aborted babies for profit in 2015.
The decision in appellate the case, Planned Parenthood v. Troy Newman, et. al.,
rejected arguments based primarily on the defense of the pro-lifers’
First Amendment right to freedom of speech and Newman’s right to claim
the Fifth Amendment protections against self-incrimination stemming from
a civil suit brought by Planned Parenthood in which the journalists
were found to have violated the Racketeer Influenced Corrupt
Organizations act, or RICO in 2019.
The
three-member panel was stacked against the pro-life position,
consisting of two appointees of former President Barack Obama and one of
former President Bill Clinton, both of which hold radically
pro-abortion views and reflected them in their judicial appointments.
“This
is a prime example of the two-tiered system of justice that now plagues
our nation,” said Newman. “We caught Planned Parenthood red-handed
breaking a plethora of state and federal laws, and even showed that they
were harvesting organs from babies born alive during late-term
abortions. Yet those of us who exposed these horrific crimes are
punished while law enforcement still looks the other way as Planned
Parenthood continues to illegally traffic aborted baby remains for
profit.”
Newman
noted that two members of his investigative team still face criminal
felonies in California for posing as representatives of an organ
procurement company to conduct their undercover investigation of Planned
Parenthood’s illicit baby parts trade.
Investigative
committees of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives both
referred Planned Parenthood to the Department of Justice for criminal
prosecution in 2016, but those referrals were ignored by a compromised
Department of Justice.
“The
political elite will stop at nothing to cover up for Planned Parenthood
baby-killing criminals,” said Newman. “But the truth cannot be buried
forever. I am more determined than ever to expose the truth about
Planned Parenthoods illegal and abusive conduct that destroys innocent
lives and inflicts human misery on women, families, and society.”
Newman
said his legal team from the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ)
plans to appeal to the full Ninth Circuit, which has become more
balanced since President Donald J. Trump added several conservative
justices to that famously liberal court.
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