Leaders Behind Planned Parenthood Videos Are Indicted

A Houston grand jury investigating undercover footage of Planned Parenthood found no wrongdoing Monday by the abortion provider but instead indicted anti-abortion activists involved in making the videos that provoked outrage among Republican leaders nationwide, the AP reports. David Daleiden, founder of the Center for Medical Progress, was indicted on a felony charge of tampering with a governmental record and a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs. Another activist, Sandra Merritt, was also indicted on a charge of tampering with a governmental record. Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson didn't specify what record or records were allegedly tampered with in a statement announcing the indictment.

"We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," Anderson says. "As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us." The Center for Medical Progress is the anti-abortion group that released covertly shot videos of Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of aborted fetuses for research. A phone message left with the group wasn't immediately returned. Planned Parenthood officials swiftly hailed the indictment as just. "This is absolutely great news because it is a demonstration of what Planned Parenthood has said from the very beginning, we follow every law and regulation and these anti-abortion activists broke multiple laws to try and spread lies," says spokeswoman Rochelle Tafolla of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. (More Planned Parenthood stories.)