David Daleiden

David Robert Daleiden (born 1989,^[2] California) is a pro-life activist who worked for Live Action before founding the Irvine, California-based The Center for Medical Progress (CMP) in 2013.^[3][4]

Early life

Daleiden says he is the "child of a crisis pregnancy" and grew up "culturally Catholic."^[5] His mother, Gina Surkala Daleiden, is a public official in her son's home town of Davis, California. Gina Surkala Daleiden served 9 years as a trustee on the Davis School Board, worked as deputy for several Yolo County officeholders, and is presently the Executive Director of First 5 Yolo, an appointed position.^[6][7]

He graduated from Davis High School in 2007 and later from Claremont McKenna College.^{[8][9][10][11][12]}

Pro-life controversy

In 2015, Daleiden released videos showing Planned Parenthood officials discussing reimbursement for donations of fetal tissue and organs.^[13][14] Daleiden, an associate of Lila Rose,^[15] ran a Live Action chapter in 2007 and was the organization’s director of research "during the early stages" of the project to make secret recordings of Planned Parenthood clinics.^[16] Daleiden went on to set up a group called the "Center for Medical Progress"^[17] and registered it as a tax-exempt biomedicine charity.^[18] Daleiden set up a fake biomedical research company, called Biomax Procurement Services,^[15] and created secret recordings where his associates asked about tissue donation costs, and questioned whether tissue samples could be acquired from African American patients with sickle-cell anemia.^[19] Planned Parenthood claims that they may donate fetal tissue at the request of a patient, but such tissue is never sold.^[19][20]

The videos were shown to Republican Congressmen Trent Franks and Tim Murphy two weeks before being made publicly available,^[21] leading commentators to note that the timing of the release appears to coincide with the Republican nomination and a bipartisan bill to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure.^[5][22]

On July 31, 2015, the National Abortion Federation sued CMP and Daleiden, alleging that Daleiden's campaign violates its members’ privacy and is a threat to their safety.^[23]

On January 22, 2016, Daleiden appeared on C-SPAN for a question-and-answer session that included viewer call-ins discussing his viewpoints on abortion where he advocated regressing current laws back to the time when all elective abortions were criminal acts. The segment's opposing view was preceded by NARAL Pro-Choice America policy director Donna Crane.^[24][25]

Criminal charges

On January 25, 2016, a grand jury in Harris County in Houston, Texas, that originally had investigated the Gulf Coast chapter of Planned Parenthood indicted Daleiden on a felony count of tampering with governmental records by making and using a fake driver's license,^[26] and a misdemeanor charge for emailing an offer to buy fetal tissue for $1,600.^[27][28][29]

Daleiden faces a prison sentence of up to 22 years if convicted of crimes alleged by the grand jury, according to the Washington Post.^[27]

He turned himself in in Harris County, Texas on February 4, 2016,^[30][31] and appeared in court after posting $3,000 bond.^[32]

References