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| Photo: Michael Paulsen, Staff |
A Harris County grand jury probe into Planned Parenthood of the Gulf Coast ended Monday with the indictments of two anti-abortion activists.
David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were both indicted for tampering with a governmental record. An additional indictment for prohibition of the purchase and sale of human organs was issued for Daleiden, according to a release from the Harris County District Attorneys Office.
"We were called upon to investigate allegations of criminal conduct by Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," said Harris County District Attorney Devon Anderson. "As I stated at the outset of this investigation, we must go where the evidence leads us. All the evidence uncovered in the course of this investigation was presented to the grand jury. I respect their decision on this difficult case."
THE BACKGROUND: Undercover Planned Parenthood video targets Houston clinic
Daleiden and Merritt were involved in undercover videos that surfaced last year appearing to show a Planned Parenthood official discussing reimbursement fees associated with fetal tissue procurement and donation.
The videos prompted Gov. Greg Abbott to call for an investigation into the organization.
Planned Parenthood, in a letter to Congress said Daleiden was involved in secretly recording Planned Parenthood staff and patients at least 65 times over the last eight years.
THE BACKLASH: Abbott wants harsher penalties in wake of Planned Parenthood videos
The national organization of Planned Parenthood has alleged that Daleiden and others used aliases, obtained fake government I.D.s, and formed a fake tissue procurement company in an effort to gain access to private medical conferences and health care centers.
The organization has said they also illegally taped private professional conversations of doctors and other medical providers and spliced together shards of long conversations to create short videos in order to spread false claims.
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