Undercover pro-life advocates reach California plea deal
Sandra Merritt, left, smiles as she talks with David Daleiden outside of a courtroom in San Francisco, Monday, Feb. 11, 2019. Associated Press / Photo by Jeff Chiu
![Undercover pro-life advocates reach California plea deal](https://www4.wng.org/_1500x937_crop_center-center_82_line/Sandra-Merritt-and-David-Daleiden.jpg)
California state prosecutors reached a plea deal on Monday with two pro-life advocates responsible for exposing Planned Parenthood’s sale of body parts of aborted babies. President of the pro-life Center for Medical Progress David Daleiden and undercover reporter Sandra Merritt entered no-contest pleas for a single felony charge each of illegally recording confidential conversations. The terms of the plea deals for Daleiden and Merritt included no jail time, no fines, no probation, and no admission of wrongdoing, according to a Monday release from the advocacy group.
Daleiden and Merritt recorded a series of undercover videos that they insist exposed the industry behind the practice of abortion. The pair captured video that appears to show Planned Parenthood executives debating prices for body parts from aborted babies and discussing how to change abortion procedures to obtain more profitable body parts. Planned Parenthood has denied all wrongdoing, but the videos sparked several lawsuits and ultimately disqualified the group from receiving state and federal funding in Texas.
Won’t pleading no contest to a felony make Daleiden and Merritt felons? After pleading, Daleiden and Merritt will enter a one-year probationary period before the uncontested felony charges will be reduced to misdemeanors at sentencing, explained the legal non-profit representing Merritt. The charges against both advocates will ultimately be dismissed and expunged, according to the Center for Medical Progress release.
Has California commented on the settlement? California Attorney General Rob Bonta touted the criminal convictions in a Tuesday release. Bonta alleged that Daleiden and Merritt’s recording of private conversations threatened abortion access in the state. Criminal convictions like these protect the constitutional right to have an abortion in California, the release said.
Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s 2019 report for more background and details on the case.
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