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Friday, March 29, 2024 | Back issues
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Anti-Abortion Group|Cannot Release Videos

LOS ANGELES (CN) - A state court judge has temporarily blocked an anti-abortion group from releasing secret videos of leaders of a company that provides fetal tissue to researchers.

The temporary restraining order bars the Center for Medical Progress from releasing surreptitiously recorded video of three high-level StemExpress employees, filmed at a restaurant in May.

Placerville, Calif.-based StemExpress provides human tissue, blood and other specimens to researchers. Planned Parenthood is one of the company's biggest suppliers of fetal tissue - hence the anti-abortion tie-in.

The Center for Medical Progress has already released three secret videos that have riled anti-abortion activists and led to a move in the U.S. Senate to bar Planned Parenthood from receiving federal funding.

In one video, a Planned Parenthood executive - having lunch with activists posing as buyers from a human biologics company - describes techniques for procuring fetal body parts for researchers.

A second video depicts an alleged former phlebotomist of StemExpress describing drawing blood from and dissecting dead fetuses.

"I thought I was going to be just drawing blood, not procuring tissue from aborted fetuses," the employee said.

The Center for Medical Progress describes itself on its website as "a group of citizen journalists dedicated to monitoring and reporting on medical ethics and advances."

In a statement, the group said StemExpress is "attempting to use meritless litigation to cover-up this illegal baby parts trade, suppress free speech, and silence the citizen press reporting on issues of burning concern to the American public."

StemExpress said in a statement that it sought the restraining order on grounds that CMP violated California's anti-wiretapping law under the Invasion of Privacy Act.

The restraining order will remain in place until an Aug. 19 hearing, where StemExpress said it will argue for a preliminary injunction against CMP and its leader, David Daleiden.

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