In light of anti-abortion protests against California Attorney General Kamala Harris today, Physicians for Reproductive Health consulting medical director Dr. Anne Davis made the following statement:
“Last week’s raid on David Daleiden’s apartment, led by the California Department of Justice, was a necessary next step in the investigation of the deceptive activities of the Center for Medical Progress (CMP), which have led to an increasingly toxic environment for abortion providers and our patients.
“Large amounts of time and taxpayer money have been wasted with investigations that have found no wrongdoing on the part of Planned Parenthood. As a physician who provides abortions, I commend California Attorney General Kamala Harris for her office’s steps to hold David Daleiden and CMP accountable for their actions.
“Since the release of the videos by CMP, my colleagues and their patients across the country have seen frightening backlash, including unprecedented threats and violence—a fact that was recently underscored by new data from the National Abortion Federation, which found that from 2014 to 2015, death threats increased from 1 to 94, incidents of picketing facilities grew from 5,402 to 21,715, and more than 25,000 incidents of hate speech were recorded in just a six week period. Three people also lost their lives in an attack on a clinic in Colorado Springs. The incendiary rhetoric and misrepresentations around abortion must end.”
