California has come to terms with a plea deal after nearly ten years of being accused of being only interested in political prosecution. The case was brought against investigative journalists Sandra Merritt and David Daleiden after they exposed Planned Parenthood’s profitable sales of abandoned baby body parts for clinical experiments.  ,
Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress ( CMP), and Merritt were co-defendants in the case first brought in 2016 by then California Attorney General Kamala Harris at the behest of Planned Parenthood, a mega-donor to her political campaigns.
As The Federalist’s Managing Editor Madeline Osburn previously reported, between 2010-2015, Planned Parenthood, its board members, and other abortion groups donated more than$ 81, 000 to Harris’s political campaigns. When she was running for Senate in 2016, Harris ‘s , campaign website featured a , petition , asking visitors to sign in support of preventing Planned Parenthood from being defunded.
According to Osburn, Harris ordered a seek warrant specifically looking for Daleiden’s unpublished videos and documents, which should have been protected by the California helmet law protecting citizen journalists ‘ published materials. Six executives andnbsp, who were later used as witnesses in Harris ‘ judicial investigation of Daleiden and Merrit, were uncovered during initial trials for this case.
Harris charged them with violating California’s saving laws, kicking off nine years of court costs, social persecution, and all the pain that goes with it. However, the videos Planned Parenthood unsuccessfully used to conceal its plans were gradually made public.
Planned Parenthood staff cavalierly explain in a gut-wrenching sales pitch that Daleiden recorded in a 2015 undercover video how they half remove children from their mother ‘ body during the next week and occasionally “pull off a foot, or two,” being careful not to damage the human tissues for purchase, as Federalist author Jordan Boyd reported in August.
Merritt participated in the video’s production.
Prior to this unprecedented case, the State of California had never criminally prosecuted covert journalists for disclosing recordings made for the public interest,” according to a statement from Liberty Counsel. However, this brave grandmother was accused of 16 felonies and was facing more than ten years in prison for shining a light on the profit made by the abortion industry from the illegal organ harvesting of aborted babies.
Osburn wrote in response to Harris ‘ disregard for the First Amendment:” California’s video recording law does not prohibit anybody from recording conversations in a public area that anyone can supervise. The law also explicitly permits recording, even a private conversation, if it is being done in order to gather evidence of a violent crime. Daleiden was the first and only instance in California where a journalist has ever been accused of breaking the state’s video recording law.
The case has been completed, but it is still being used to advance extremist abortion politics. In a misleading press release titled,” Attorney General Bonta Secures Felony Conviction of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt for Criminal Invasion of Privacy,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta uses the case as a warning to pro-lifers and he continues to harm the reputations of the two.
In a social media post on X, Bonta reiterates that Daleiden was” convicted of felony invasion of privacy.”
Daleiden posted court records showing Bonta has it wrong. If the pair fails to adhere to the terms of the plea deal, they will not be found guilty of a felony. Although Bonta mentions the terms in his statement, he contends that they are already guilty of a felony.
According to Bonta’s statement, the terms of the plea , agreement , include:
- Daleiden and Merritt will have no contact with, stay away  , from,  , and not name , the , victims — whether in public, their private residences, over social media, or at their work locations.
- Daleiden and Merritt must abide by all laws. This specifically includes not making any additional recordings that violate Penal Code , Section , 632.
While Bonta made the deal sound like a win for the state, the two, who faced years in prison, agreed to a” no contest” plea for one charge of “unlawful recording of confidential communication” in exchange for no prison.  ,
Bonta’s statement said the two were charged for” criminally recording confidential communications with women’s healthcare providers”, that is, abortionists.
While the Trump administration is is issuing pardons to those found guilty of infringing on reproductive health clinics and providers, my office is ensuring that Californians can exercise their constitutional right to access reproductive healthcare, according to Bonta’s statement. We will not be hesitant to continue fighting those who threaten the access to abortion care, whether through private conversations or other means.
Daleiden made the following statement on X.
According to Daleiden, the undercover reporting at issue in this case resulted in a$ 7.8 million settlement between two businesses that admitted illegally selling fetuses from Planned Parenthood in southern California, a settlement with disgorgement of profits from the sale of aborted fetal organs in Arizona, and the state and federal funding of Planned Parenthood in Texas for violations of medical standards and ethics, which Planned Parenthood is currently facing a nearly$ 2
Beth Brelje covers The Federalist’s elections coverage. She is an award-winning investigative journalist with decades of media experience.
