Pro-Life Journalist David Daleiden Touched The Third Rail And Lived To Tell The Tale 11 Years Later

Journalist David Daleiden published videos purporting to show Planned Parenthood was selling aborted baby body parts in 2015. The state of California prosecuted him for nearly a decade. 

California failed. Daleiden wrote Wednesday that the state had dismissed the final charge against him and expunged the case. Daleiden says he agreed to plead “no contest” on a single charge.

“The agreement involves no admission of wrongdoing, no fines, and no probation. The new ‘no contest’ plea—which cannot be used adversely—will be entered into judgment as a misdemeanor in 6 to 12 months, and then converted to a ‘not guilty’ plea and dismissed,” Daleiden explained in January 2025.

California prosecutors charged Daleiden and fellow journalist Sandra Merritt with 15 felony counts in 2017, according to a press release from then-California Attorney General Xavier Becerra’s office. 

Daleiden and Merritt had surreptitiously recorded and published conversations with Planned Parenthood personnel, which appeared to show employees giddily explaining how the organization sells aborted baby parts to researchers. Planned Parenthood responded in 2015, saying there was “no financial benefit for tissue donation for either the patient or for Planned Parenthood” and that, in some cases, “actual costs, such as the cost to transport tissue to leading research centers, are reimbursed[.]”

Becerra claimed the videos constituted a violation of California’s right to privacy laws.

“The right to privacy is a cornerstone of California’s Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society,” said Becerra, according to a press release. “We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations.”

Daleiden has referred to the case against him as “lawfare.” 

“My case is the first and only one that was ever criminally charged by the state attorney general’s office, and it was because of Planned Parenthood’s demand to cover up the information that was on those video recordings about how they’re using partial birth abortions to sell late-term aborted baby body parts at their taxpayer funded mega clinics across the state of California and across the country,” Daleiden told Fox News Digital on Tuesday. 

The reason the left prosecuted the David Daleiden for a decade, sued a Colorado baker for 13 years, and deposed the DOGE boys the moment doge ended, is to send a message: “If you succeed at conservative politics we will come after you forever and we will never leave you alone.” https://t.co/z76OSg67eu

— Wokal Distance (@wokal_distance) April 3, 2026

Most laws are selectively enforced. Power lies in making the selection.

Becerra’s predecessor as California Attorney General, Kamala Harris, kickstarted the investigation into Daleiden and Merritt. Agents from Harris’ Department of Justice (DOJ) searched Daleiden’s apartment in April 2016, according to The Los Angeles Times. They reportedly seized papers, videos, a cellphone, and a computer. 

At the time, Daleiden said that the agents seized his “First Amendment work product.”

“They pursued this case viciously for nine years, because it was such a priority for national Planned Parenthood,” Daleiden told Fox News. “But ultimately, it’s a totally weaponized political prosecution. They’re totally wrong on the facts and the law of undercover video reporting in California, all the conversations that me and my team recorded were in public areas where other people could overhear.”

Harris appeared to harbor a significant conflict of interest in this case. As The Los Angeles Times notes, Harris’ 2016 campaign website for the U.S. Senate asked supporters to sign a petition “to defend Planned Parenthood.”

Planned Parenthood organizations, along with individual Planned Parenthood Board Members, had given Harris more than $81,000 in 2015, Life News reported. 

We should petition the White House to give David Daleiden the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He deserves it. https://t.co/u1hDsoCt8C

— Mark Hemingway (@Heminator) January 28, 2025

In 2016, Life Legal obtained emails “showing a disturbing level of cooperation between … Harris’s office and Planned Parenthood’s California lobbying arm.” One email shows an exchange between Harris’ Special Counsel for Legislation Robert Sumner and Christina Romero, Legislative Director for Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California (PPAC).

“Hey Christina! Do you have a breakdown of PPAC’s legislative priorities this session? Looking to check in on what you all are sponsoring/supporting, just generally in the interest of being helpful where I can. Thanks!” Sumner wrote to Romero.

Daleiden and Merritt’s case is a good reminder of the lengths the state will go to destroy its enemies. 

Follow Natalie Sandoval on X: @NatSandovalDC