Graham Piro – September 18, 2020
Undercover journalist David Daleiden filed a defamation lawsuit against Planned Parenthood, alleging that a communications officer gave false statements to a publication regarding organ harvesting operations.
Attorneys for Daleiden at the Thomas More Society said that the nation’s largest abortion organization orchestrated a smear campaign to distract from the content of his work, which featured candid conversations with Planned Parenthood executives about the trade of baby body parts.
“We have not been surprised over their campaign to smear the reputation of Mr. Daleiden, but they are not allowed to falsely besmirch his reputation for exposing the truth,” Thomas More Society president Tom Brejcha said in a statement.
The complaint cites a quote given by a communications officer from Planned Parenthood to Rewire News that accused Daleiden and his organization, the Center for Medical Progress, of having “manufacture[d] a fake smear campaign against Planned Parenthood.” It also cites a tweet from November 2019 that claimed Daleiden, who posed as a prospective buyer of fetal organs, distorted the truth in his videos.
“In reality, as PPFA and its representatives recorded on the Videos readily admit in other fora, Plaintiffs’ videos accurately record Planned Parenthood officials’ own shocking words spoken in real life,” the complaint says.