Preliminary hearing for anti-abortion activists starts Monday

A San Francisco County judge will decide in a pretrial hearing starting Monday whether the state attorney general can present enough evidence to try two anti-abortion activists on 15 criminal charges of invasion of privacy after they are alleged to have secretly filmed Planned Parenthood staff conspiring to sell fetal tissue.

Attorney General Xavier Becerra filed an arrest warrant in 2017 for David Robert Daleiden and Sandra Merritt -- members of the Center for Medical Progress -- after the pair allegedly disguised themselves to gain access to an abortion industry conference and restaurants.

They are accused of secretly recording conversations with Planned Parenthood staff without their knowledge. People v. Daleiden and Merritt, 17006621 (S.F. Sup. Ct., March 28, 2017).

"The right to privacy is a cornerstone of California's Constitution, and a right that is foundational in a free democratic society," Becerra said in a news release shortly after filing the charges. "We will not tolerate the criminal recording of confidential conversations."

The recorded conversations, which the duo posted to the center's website, appear to show Planned Parenthood staff discussing the sale of fetal tissue for a profit. Planned Parenthood has since filed its own civil suit demanding the videos be taken down, saying they are highly edited and misleading.

However in 2016, a U.S. district judge in Texas dismissed on technical grounds similar charges brought against the two activists.

Defending Daleiden in the current case are attorneys from the Thomas More Society, a nonprofit law firm based in Chicago whose stated mission is "restoring respect in law for life, family, and religious liberty."

Daleidan, who was referred to as an undercover journalist in a statement released by the More firm, posted his own statement on the center's website after being charged, saying he looks forward to showing the videos in open court, "in vindication of the First Amendment rights of all."

"The bogus charges from Planned Parenthood's political cronies are fake news. They tried the same collusion with corrupt officials in Houston, TX and failed: both the charges and the DA were thrown out," the statement reads. "The public knows the real criminals are Planned Parenthood and their business partners like StemExpress and DV Biologics -- currently being prosecuted in California -- who have harvested and sold aborted baby body parts for profit for years in direct violation of state and federal law."

The videos have sparked outrage among anti-abortion groups, prompting federal and state investigations into numerous Planned Parenthood affiliates. Texas, among other states, has moved to defund Planned Parenthood.

After a district court issued a preliminary injunction preventing Texas from terminating Medicaid funding to the Planned Parenthood facilities statewide, a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals panel, which appeared to determine the videos had merit, vacated the injunction and remanded the case to district court.

"The district court stated, inaccurately, that the CMP video had not been authenticated and suggested that it may have been edited," the panel wrote in its opinion in January.

Following the release of the videos in 2015, three Planned Parenthood members were shot and killed outside a clinic by a man who admitted he was angry about the clinics performing abortions and allegedly selling fetal tissue.

The 14 Planned Parenthood workers who were filmed will testify for the first time Monday before San Francisco County Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite. In February, Hite ordered the workers' names kept under seal and said he would punish anyone who was found to have published them.

After the hearing process, which is expected to last two weeks, Hite will decide if there is enough evidence to warrant a trial.