David Daleiden took the stand again during the Planned Parenthood v. The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) trial on Thursday. Defense attorneys for CMP worked to show how – despite Planned Parenthood’s claims that CMP founder David Daleiden and his undercover journalists took part in illegally recording confidential information and were in breach of contract – Planned Parenthood itself was not concerned at all with confidentiality.
Planned Parenthood recording of conference
Not only did Planned Parenthood not prohibit exhibitors from recording during the 2015 National Conference, the abortion corporation itself recorded the entire event.
“Did they prohibit recording?” defense attorney Harmeet Dhillon asked Daleiden.
“No,” he replied.
“Did they prohibit the dissemination of conference information?” she asked.
“No, not at all,” testified Daleiden.
The defense then introduced an exhibit that Pro-Life San Francisco founder and executive director Terrisa Bukovinac told Live Action News “seemed to devastate Planned Parenthood’s case in a pretty big way.” They reportedly showed the jury a photograph of a sign prominently posted at the National Conference which read:
Planned Parenthood is photographing and/or recording this event and all attendees. By entering you agree to allow Planned Parenthood to take pictures and video of you and to use those images for any purpose, including advertising purposes, to promote the Planned Parenthood mission. If you have any concerns about this, please let our staff know or feel free to exit the premises.
Daleiden testified that he recalled seeing that sign, describing it as a “three-feet tall, stand up sign in the middle of the walkway.”
In addition to this, video shot during the visit to the Colorado Planned Parenthood facility featured a large metal sign on the gate of the abortion facility that states, “audio monitoring device in use.”
Loophole in confidentiality agreement
According to Bukovinac, while on the stand, Daleiden also testified about the events that led up to the meeting with Melissa Farrell, director of research for Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast. Daleiden testified that he was sent a non-disclosure agreement and that there was a blank line on which he was able to write “scientific research programs.”
“I wrote that to specifically limit what could be considered confidential,” he said. He added that anything that Farrell wanted to have been considered confidential would have needed to have been verbally identified or flagged. When the document he signed used language referring to information “reasonably understood to be confidential” Daleiden said he took this to mean any documents or binders labeled as confidential.
Next, a clip of the video from that clinic visit was played showing CMP investigator Sandra Merritt asking Farrell if she wanted the door to her office closed, and Farrell can be heard saying not to close it because “I don’t think we’re going over anything extremely confidential yet.”
READ: Doctors told David Daleiden ‘fetuses needed to be born alive in order to collect the specimen’
Public lunch meetings
Attorneys also questioned Daleiden about the meetings he held with Planned Parenthood employees in public locations such as restaurants. Daleiden stated that there were “tons of waitstaff and tons of patrons adjacent to us” during this recorded meeting. A video clip was played showing how crowded the restaurant was at the time.
Daleiden also testified about his lunch meeting with Dr. Deborah Nucatola, former Medical Director for Planned Parenthood Federation of America, stating that while she mentioned a private room in the restaurant during her testimony, she never asked to be moved to that room during the lunch meeting. He also stated that their conversation was easily overheard by others from as far as “5 to 10 feet away,” adding that he “was afraid we were going to be kicked out of the restaurant for having a graphic conversation,” according to Bukovinac. Daleiden said this led him to believe that the conversation was not confidential.
Defense attorney Katie Short asked Daleiden specifically about the video deposition of Deb VanDerhei of the Consortium of Planned Parenthood Abortion Providers (CAPS) and the fact that she testified during that deposition that someone was right behind her when she was being filmed unknowingly by CMP. Daleiden stated that he was 100 percent sure that this particular conversation could be overheard. In the background of the video, you can see the woman, Lisa David, mimicking VanDerhei’s gesture. He also witnessed her cock her head and turn it at times and later in the day, David approached Daleiden about the conversation she overheard, saying it was ” a fascinating subject.”
Recording laws
According to Bukovinac, Daleiden testified that he was conscious from the very beginning of what the state laws are regarding recording conversations were. He was careful to only film in clinic settings that were in states with one-party consent laws – meaning only one person in the conversation needs to give permission for it to be legally recorded.
Planned Parenthood may have broken HIPAA laws
Daleiden testified that JR Gladstone, research coordinator at Planned Parenthood Rocky Mountains, showed him patient records, which shocked Daleiden. Patient files are protected by HIPAA privacy laws and if Planned Parenthood staff is willing to break the law and share these confidential files then that shows how little they are concerned with confidentiality. This testimony was stricken from the record by Judge William Orrick III.
Overall, Daleiden’s testimony on Thursday seemed to show how inconsistent Planned Parenthood is with protecting what they consider to be “confidential” information.
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