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 The videos released last summer led Texas and other
Republican-controlled states to try to halt funding for local
Planned Parenthood operations, with Republicans in the U.S. Congress
also pushing for a funding cut.
The grand jury reviewed the case for more than two months and its
decision was a result of a probe launched last year under Texas
Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, who accused Planned Parenthood
of the "gruesome harvesting of baby body parts."
"After a lengthy and thorough investigation by the Harris County
District Attorney’s Office, the Texas Rangers, and the Houston
Police Department, a Harris County grand jury took no action Monday
against Planned Parenthood Gulf Coast," the Harris County District
Attorney's office said in a statement.
Planned Parenthood has denied the accusation and called the probe
politically motivated.
 David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt were indicted by the grand jury
for tampering with a governmental record, said prosecutors for the
county in which Houston is located. The felony charge is punishable
by up to 20 years in prison.
The two were involved in covert videos last year in which a Planned
Parenthood official discussed the procurement of fetal tissue.
Daleiden, leader of the Center for Medical Progress that released
the videos, was also charged with violating a prohibition on the
purchase and sale of human organs, a misdemeanor, the Harris County
District Attorney said.
There were no details released on the allegations against them.
"I respect their decision on this difficult case," Harris County
District Attorney Devon Anderson said of the grand jury.
The videos purported to show Planned Parenthood officials trying to
negotiate prices for aborted fetal tissue. Under federal law,
donated human fetal tissue may be used for research, but profiting
from its sale is prohibited.
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"These people broke the law to spread malicious lies about Planned
Parenthood in order to advance their extreme anti-abortion political
agenda," said Eric Ferrero, vice president of Communications for
Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
It is unclear what triggered the surprise indictments during the
grand jury’s closed-door proceedings, said David Sklansky, faculty
co-director of the Stanford Criminal Justice Center and a professor
at Stanford Law School.
"It would be quite unusual for the grand jury to change direction
without the cooperation and approval of the prosecutor," Sklansky
said. "But pretty much everything associated with this case seems
unusual."
Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee weighed in, saying
in a statement: "It’s a sick day in America when our government
punishes those who expose evil with a smartphone - while
accommodating those who perform it with a scalpel."
Texas leaders said they would not back down on their probe.
Arkansas and Louisiana, two neighboring states that have launched
similar moves to cut state Medicaid funding after the videos, have
been on the losing end of federal lawsuits, with judges blocking
their attempts to halt funds.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz; Additional reporting by Jim Christie
in San Francisco; Editing by Matthew Lewis, Bernard Orr)
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