A federal district judge issued a restraining order against a group planning to release videos of abortion-rights meetings. In the order, Judge William Orrick cited privacy concerns and the history of violence against abortion doctors. The group, the Center for Medical Progress, said they were engaged in “investigative journalism” when they posed as members of a fetal research company and made videos that claimed to show Planned Parenthood was illegally selling fetal parts. (San Francisco Chronicle, August 3, 2015, by Bob Egelko)
The order from Judge Orrick came after a Los Angeles County judge ordered the Center to refrain from releasing videos of leaders of StemExpress that provides fetal tissue to researchers. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 1, 2015, by SudhinThanawala of The Associated Press)
It is unclear if the Center was observing the law in using hidden cameras. Laws vary in different states and are often contingent on the location of a recording and whether there is reasonable expectation of privacy. A recent federal court decision in Idaho found for activists that made undercover videos in factory farms. ( Reuters, August 6, 2015, by Dan Levine and Joseph Ax)