Life Legal Says Lawsuit Against David Daleiden Is Meant to Stifle Free Speech

Thursday, Life Legal Defense Foundation filed a motion on behalf of David Daleiden, asking the court to dismiss a case against him because it is prohibited by California state law.

Life Legal’s attorneys, in the motion, declared Planned Parenthood’s lawsuit against The Center for Medical Progress and David Daleiden a “SLAPP,” Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation. Such lawsuits are a legal ploy often implemented by large corporations to prevent individuals from acting against them by inflicting the expense and burden of litigation upon them.

In a press release Friday, Life Legal stated:

California’s anti-SLAPP law specifically protects free speech in connection with “an issue of public interest.” Planned Parenthood is a taxpayer-funded organization that holds itself out as a provider of free or reduced cost services for women. The public has a right to know what kinds of business practices Planned Parenthood is engaged in, especially when those practices are illegal.

In this case, Planned Parenthood filed a lawsuit for the sole purpose of silencing and punishing David for gathering information about Planned Parenthood’s sale of fetal body parts and then publishing his findings. The Center for Medical Progress published a series of videos proving Planned Parenthood’s practice of collaborating with fetal specimen brokers to secure payment and other valuable consideration, including disposal services, for the bodies of aborted babies. Planned Parenthood wants to punish David and his fellow investigators with crushing damages and attorney fee awards.

Life Legal’s motion includes evidence of payment structures used between Planned Parenthood and fetal specimen brokers to compensate abortion clinics for supplying fetal body parts. Brokers such as StemExpress solicit the participation of Planned Parenthood’s clinics by offering to make the transactions “financially profitable.”

“There is no question that Planned Parenthood is involved in the sale of aborted babies to fetal tissue brokers,” Life Legal Defense Foundation’s Executive Director Alexandra Snyder said. “The only reason for the lawsuit is to punish David Daleiden for exposing its practices and to deter others from taking on the abortion giant.”