Sep 21, 2023
A free republic depends on a free press to keep the people informed. This was a central issue in the Founders’ quest for freedom. But a multibillion-dollar global corporation is trying to silence the free press by pushing for a 16-million-dollar judgment against the undercover reporter who exposed the trafficking in baby body parts scheme.
Meanwhile, that same global grist mill is flexing its lobbying might in Washington, pressuring Congress to pass HR 15 — a bill that would make the partial birth abortion organ-procurement tactics Sandra Merritt exposed legal — while forcing you to fund this horror.
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Let’s begin with the basics under federal law.
It is a felony to buy or sell human body parts. 42 USC 274e.
It is unlawful to knowingly acquire, receive, or otherwise transfer any human fetal tissue for valuable consideration, punishable by up to 10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to 500,000 dollars. 42 USC 289g.
A baby born alive is afforded the same legal protection as any person, and thus killing that infant is homicide. 1 USC 8.
Partial birth abortion is punishable by fines and prison. 18 USC 1531.
In California, if you believe someone is involved in criminal activity, you can record them without their knowledge or consent. Additionally, if the recordings take place in a public space where others are present, where there is no expectation of confidentiality, the recordings are permitted.
That is, apparently, unless the criminal activity involves abortion or the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA).
Sandra Merritt has become the target of this abortion giant to silence her and anyone who dares investigate the truth. The implications of this case go far beyond abortion. Next Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will consider our case of Sandra Merritt v. Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
In 2014, Sandra Merritt went undercover as a journalist, recording Planned Parenthood (PP) executives and others in public places as they openly bragged about violating the above laws in order to achieve higher profits for the 1.7 billion-dollar-per-year abortion giant.
In one particular video, recorded July 25, 2014, over lunch in a busy restaurant, Planned Parenthood’s Senior Director of Medical Services Deborah Nucatola blithely discussed prices for baby parts. Dr. Nucatola also detailed how she had “gotten pretty good” at performing illegal abortions in order to ensure the highest-priced organs — the baby’s heart, lungs, and livers — aren’t crushed during the abortion.
What Nucatola described on video is a partial birth abortion — a practice federally banned since 2003.
When Sandra and fellow undercover journalist David Daleiden asked about partial birth abortion laws, Nucatola had an answer for that too.
“The federal [partial birth] abortion ban is a law, and laws are up to interpretation,” Nucatola said. She explained that if her doctors simply begin the abortion by saying ‘I do not intend to do this’ (referring to a partial birth abortion), what ultimately happens doesn’t matter.”
Nucatola’ s ridiculous reasoning is akin to a bank robber saying he won’t get punished for his crime as long as he says out loud “I don’t intend to steal anything,” immediately before robbing a bank.
Nucatola even went on to explain how Planned Parenthood’s lawyers had advised the national office to arrange their unlawful baby organ procurement practices to ensure that, if caught, Planned Parenthood’s affiliate organizations, not the national PPFA, take the fall.
It must have worked because although several of the organ procurement companies Sandra filmed over the course of the investigation were fined for seeking Planned Parenthood’s illegal harvests, not a single Planned Parenthood executive or doctor was ever prosecuted.
Instead, through criminal and civil actions, SANDRA is being punished for revealing the truth about these crimes!
This fall, Sandra will go to trial in the criminal case instigated by now-Vice President Kamala Harris and continued by now-U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra when they served back-to-back as California’s attorney general. Not surprisingly, Planned Parenthood is a longtime donor to both politicians. Now, Sandra faces up to 10 years in prison for exposing Harris and Becerra’s big donor’s crimes.
Sandra also faces 16 million in fines and judgments in Planned Parenthood’s civil case against her. The abortion giant sued Sandra for her undercover journalism that exposed their crimes. Sandra is the first journalist in California history to be prosecuted for undercover journalism.
Liberty Counsel is Sandra’s legal counsel in both the criminal and the civil cases against her. Sandra’s case has been the longest and the most expensive case in Liberty Counsel history.
On Tuesday, the Supreme Court will decide which cases it will hear during the upcoming term. Sandra’s civil case is on the docket. Please pray the Court selects this case, as it has huge implications.
Not only is Sandra’s case one of the most important abortion cases in the land, but it is also one of the most important First Amendment cases in a century. Because, you see, a free country relies on a free press.
As Thomas Jefferson wisely noted, “No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions.”
We cannot allow PP to suppress speech or silence the press.
Please pray for the Justices. Pray for our attorneys and our staff. And most especially, please pray for Sandra Merritt.
But Planned Parenthood isn’t stopping at Sandra Merritt. The abortion giant has thrown its powerful and extremely well-funded lobbying weight behind HR 15. If passed, HR 15 will end the federal prohibition against the abortion giant’s favorite organ procurement technique — partial birth abortion.
Please, take a moment right now and DEMAND Congress RESIST Planned Parenthood’s big bucks and high-priced, pro-death lobbyists. Demand Congress VOTE NO on HR 15.
Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel
P.S. Make a recurring monthly gift and the Challenge Grant will DOUBLE the impact of your gift!
P.P.S. Demand Congress VOTE NO on HR 15 that would legalize abortion through all nine months. You can also sign our petition.
Sources:
H.R. 15. Equality Act. (2023, June). 118th Congress (2023-2024 Session). Congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/15.
Thomas Jefferson, 1743-1826, 3rd President of the United States (Democratic Republican, VA), Letter to Judge John Tyler, June 28, 1804. Eigen's Political and Historical Quotations.