“It’s an astonishing bit of sleight of hand.”
A local Grand Jury in Harris County Texas is refusing to indict Planned Parenthood on charges of selling baby body parts. The same jury is indicting David Daleiden of The Center for Medical Progress who went undercover in an attempt to expose Planned Parenthood. Kim Ketola joins Faith Radio Mornings to discuss how investigative journalism is under attack in the United States.
David is being indicted for attempting to buy baby body parts when he was obviously only offering to buy them for investigative purposes. The situation is completely backwards because the grand jury wants to indict David for supposedly attempting to buy body parts but not indict Planned Parenthood for selling them.
“If the grand jury believes that he should be charged with offering to buy a human organ based on the videos, how could the same grand jury not conclude that Planned Parenthood should be charged with violating the same statute by offering to sell them?”
If the grand jury is successful and Planned Parenthood remains off the hook, it could have dramatic ramifications on journalism in America.
“It’s going to chill journalistic activity in Texas and elsewhere, if I think I can get arrested for trying to expose you for bending the law, how is exposure journalism ever going to happen?”
Great cultural strides have been taking as a result of undercover investigations like David’s and they must be allowed to continue.
“If you think we don’t need that and everyone needs to obey every law, you are probably benefiting from some of those types of undercover activities.”
The grand jury has to overcome the Texas statute that says they have to prove the David was clearly intent on buying baby parts in order to convict him.
“The grand jury knew that he wasn’t intending to traffic, but only to expose. All indications show that there was conflict of interest and we know that in the prosecutor’s office, there are ties to Planned Parenthood so it’s difficult to accept.”
