The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a bid by anti-abortion activists to throw out more than $2 million in damages they were ordered to pay Planned Parenthood after secretly recording video of abortion providers in a scheme to try to show the illicit sale of aborted fetal tissue for profit.
The justices turned away the appeal by David Daleiden and his group, the Center for Medical Progress, of a lower court’s decision in 2022 upholding most of the damages in a lawsuit by Planned Parenthood, a women’s healthcare and abortion provider, accusing the defendants of conspiracy, eavesdropping and other claims. The lower court rejected the argument made by the defendants that with the secret recording they were exercising their right to free speech under the US Constitution.
The justices announced their action on the first day of their new nine-month term.