Kamala Harris has recently become the new Democratic candidate for the President of the United States. The elections are slowly entering their decisive phase and the fight is becoming increasingly intense. Therefore, there is a lot of fake news circulating on the Internet. One of the popular stories claims that in the past Harris, while still the attorney general of the state of California, covered up the illegal selling of aborted fetal body parts. Her actions were allegedly directed at innocent people who wanted to expose the entire procedure. In fact, Kamala Harris was not the attorney general when charges were brought against those involved in the entire case. Numerous investigations have also failed to prove that any illegal trade in children’s organs took place at all.
Articles on this topic were published by numerous far-right news websites. They appeared in DoRzeczy, Magna Polonia, Fronda, or Pch24.pl. The authors of the articles cited the LifeSiteNews website as their main source of information, which is known for spreading false information. The same theses about Kamala Harris were already circulating in 2020 during the then presidential elections.
Center for Medical Progress releases recordings
In 2015, the anti-abortion organization Center for Medical Progress (CMP) released videos recorded undercover. CMP members posed as employees of a bogus company called Biomex and secretly filmed conversations with people from the Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA). This organization advocates for reproductive rights and runs, among other things, abortion clinics. CMP stated that their actions exposed the practice of selling organs from abortions for commercial purposes by PPFA, which is illegal in the United States.
The videos published by CMP caused quite a storm and a lot of controversy, especially in the USA. Twelve states launched investigations into Planned Parenthood over the situation. However, none of them found evidence that the organization broke the law. Two federal commissions led by Republicans reached the same conclusions. Despite this, they recommended depriving PPFA of public funding.
According to PPFA, independent experts from Fusion GPS confirmed that the recordings released by CMP were manipulated so that their tone was changed. This was to be achieved through editing, mainly by cutting out longer sections of the conversation. The analysis made by the FactCheck.org website also indicates that the information provided by CMP is not consistent with the content of the recorded conversations. Anti-abortion activists claimed that PPFA was selling fetal tissue for profits as high as $1,600 USD. In fact, in accordance with the U.S. law, the organization donated them to research for a small cost-covering fee of $30-$100 USD. What is more, CMP itself released fragments of e-mails in which PPFA representatives quoted this price, rejecting the inflated sales offer from activists.
Kamala Harris takes action
Back in 2015, when Kamala Harris was California’s attorney general, the state launched an investigation into the activists of the Center for Medical Progress for illegally recording people without their consent and conspiring to breach their privacy. The authorities decided not to launch an investigation into Planned Parenthood, which may have sparked outrage among anti-abortion activists. It is worth noting, however, that several independent investigations conducted in 2015 showed that PPFA did not break the law in any way. In 2016, the police raided the house of one of the anti-abortion activists, securing recordings and other evidence. Charges against the activists were brought in 2017, when Kamala Harris was no longer prosecutor. The office was directed by her successor, Xavier Becerra. The defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges and to this day claim innocence. This case is still ongoing and final verdict is yet to be reached.
However, anti-abortion activists from CMP lost a civil case brought against them by Planned Parenthood. In October 2023, the United States Supreme Court denied a request to hear the case. This ultimately closed the door to further appeals. Therefore, they are obliged to pay over 2 million USD for harm to reputation to PPFA.
Summary
Kamala Harris indeed launched an investigation into activists of the Center for Medical Progress. However, she was no longer California’s attorney general when the charges were filed. She also could not cover up the illegal trafficking of children, because none of the dozen or so investigations showed that such a practice took place at all. The videos shared by activists themselves indicate that Planned Parenthood rejected the offer to sell tissue for profit. Their transfer took place in accordance with the federal law. CMP itself lost the civil lawsuit and is obliged to pay 2 million USD in compensation to PPFA. The activists’ case is still under trial in the state of California, waiting for the final verdict.
Sources:
Snopes: https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/kamala-harris-planned-parenthood/
AAP Factcheck: https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/bogus-harris-claim-returns-after-several-years/
FactCheck.org: https://www.factcheck.org/2015/07/unspinning-the-planned-parenthood-video/
