Did you see the articles today about how a California Court ordered that no more videos about the sale of baby parts from aborted children can be released by the Center For Medical Progress? If you did, you probably saw the amazing and false spin put on the story by the AP.
First, let's look at what happened. A court issued a temporary restraining order on an ex parte basis that bars the release of new videos discussing Stem Express, the company that processes the body parts for Planned Parenthood. This means that lawyers for Stem Express went to a judge without anyone from the Center For Medical Progress being present and asked for a temporary order against release of more videos. The Stem Express lawyers would have told the court that their business was being damaged and would suffer further damage with additional videos and also claimed that they had a legal basis to stop the dissemination of the videos. The judge would look to see if there was the risk of further damage based upon what the Stem Express lawyers had to say and if they had any chance to succeed in their claim against the videos in a trial. In that sort of situation, it is very easy to get a temporary restraining order since there was no one present to tell the other side of the case. Since the court just delayed the issuance of videos about Stem Express for ten days, there is little reason not to do so since the Center For Medical Progress will suffer no harm from the delay.
In other words, by going to court without opposition, Stem Express lawyers got a ten day delay in the issuance of new videos. This says nothing about the likelihood that when all facts are before the court there will be an injunction issued.
The AP, however, presented this news as if something important had happened. On top of that, the AP distorted the story in favor of Planned Parenthood. For example, the AP calls the prior videos the "Center for Medical Progress’ highly edited undercover videos on fetal tissue donation." The videos are not highly edited. Indeed, the full raw footage of the videos is released to the public on the internet by Center For Medical Progress. That means that the full context and the full, unedited video was released. So, the videos are not "highly edited". In addition, the videos are not about "fetal tissue donation". The Planned Parenthood officials are selling body parts, not donating it. The whole subject of the first two videos is haggling by Planned Parenthood officials about how much they want to be paid for these body parts. Some supporters of Planned Parenthood (like the AP reporters, no doubt) argue that the payments are just to reimburse Planned Parenthood for costs of collecting the body parts. That cannot be the case. Reimbursement for costs is easy; the total cost has to be calculated and the result presented for payment. These Planned Parenthood officials, however, state their concern that they not price the specimen below the market. They won't even give the proposed buy with whom they are negotiating a price without first hearing an offer. If this were reimbursement only and not profit, there would be no need to hear the offer first.
The sale of human body parts is disgusting enough. Videos showing the callous disregard for human life displayed by the Planned Parenthood officials is worse. It is even worse for a media organization like the AP to push phony stories that distort the truth in order to support their political allies. They're supposed to be the free press, not the press that is free to lie.
First, let's look at what happened. A court issued a temporary restraining order on an ex parte basis that bars the release of new videos discussing Stem Express, the company that processes the body parts for Planned Parenthood. This means that lawyers for Stem Express went to a judge without anyone from the Center For Medical Progress being present and asked for a temporary order against release of more videos. The Stem Express lawyers would have told the court that their business was being damaged and would suffer further damage with additional videos and also claimed that they had a legal basis to stop the dissemination of the videos. The judge would look to see if there was the risk of further damage based upon what the Stem Express lawyers had to say and if they had any chance to succeed in their claim against the videos in a trial. In that sort of situation, it is very easy to get a temporary restraining order since there was no one present to tell the other side of the case. Since the court just delayed the issuance of videos about Stem Express for ten days, there is little reason not to do so since the Center For Medical Progress will suffer no harm from the delay.
In other words, by going to court without opposition, Stem Express lawyers got a ten day delay in the issuance of new videos. This says nothing about the likelihood that when all facts are before the court there will be an injunction issued.
The AP, however, presented this news as if something important had happened. On top of that, the AP distorted the story in favor of Planned Parenthood. For example, the AP calls the prior videos the "Center for Medical Progress’ highly edited undercover videos on fetal tissue donation." The videos are not highly edited. Indeed, the full raw footage of the videos is released to the public on the internet by Center For Medical Progress. That means that the full context and the full, unedited video was released. So, the videos are not "highly edited". In addition, the videos are not about "fetal tissue donation". The Planned Parenthood officials are selling body parts, not donating it. The whole subject of the first two videos is haggling by Planned Parenthood officials about how much they want to be paid for these body parts. Some supporters of Planned Parenthood (like the AP reporters, no doubt) argue that the payments are just to reimburse Planned Parenthood for costs of collecting the body parts. That cannot be the case. Reimbursement for costs is easy; the total cost has to be calculated and the result presented for payment. These Planned Parenthood officials, however, state their concern that they not price the specimen below the market. They won't even give the proposed buy with whom they are negotiating a price without first hearing an offer. If this were reimbursement only and not profit, there would be no need to hear the offer first.
The sale of human body parts is disgusting enough. Videos showing the callous disregard for human life displayed by the Planned Parenthood officials is worse. It is even worse for a media organization like the AP to push phony stories that distort the truth in order to support their political allies. They're supposed to be the free press, not the press that is free to lie.
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