Houston Planned Parenthood joins lawsuit against Center for Medical Progress

UPDATE: Planned Parenthood is announcing that Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains is also joining the lawsuit.

In January, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, along with several California Planned Parenthood affiliates, filed a suit against the Center for Medical Progress, alleging the pro-life group violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act. Planned Parenthood also claims that the Center for Medical Progress “committed fraud, trespassed on private property, illegally and secretly recorded footage and invaded the privacy of Planned Parenthood employees.”

Now, Houston’s Planned Parenthood affiliate has joined the suit. The case centers around undercover videos filmed by the Center for Medical Progress, which show Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of fetal body parts. One of the videos was filmed at Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast Houston.

Melaney Linton, president of Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast, criticized the videos as outright lies…

But the Center for Medical Progress argues that Planned Parenthood is the group at fault, and is attempting to turn blame on the Center for Medical Progress for exposing them. In a statement, the Center for Medical progress defended themselves:

Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast’s director of research in Houston,  Melissa Farrell, admitted on CMP’s undercover video that her research department “contributes so much to the bottom line of our organization here” and stated during price negotiations that it was easy to make it look like Planned Parenthood wasn’t actually profiting from the sale of fetal body parts:

Intact Fetuses "Just a Matter of Line Items" for Planned Parenthood TX Mega-Center