(LifeSiteNews) — After more than a decade of legal battles, the final charge against pro-life undercover journalist David Daleiden has been dropped and expunged.

In 2015, Daleiden published undercover videos showing Planned Parenthood executives in California casually discussing the sale of aborted baby body parts while sipping wine at an upscale restaurant.

The videos went viral, racking up millions of views and triggering a public backlash against Planned Parenthood. 

Nonetheless, California’s Department of Justice, headed by then-State Attorney General Kamala Harris, a Democrat, aggressively targeted Daleiden and his partner, Sandra Merritt, filing multiple felony charges against them. 

The young investigative reporter said at the time that the day that Harris sent agents to his doorstep “started out a day like any other … except like it was 1984.” 

“To storm into a private citizen’s home with a search warrant is outrageously out of proportion for the type of crime alleged. It’s a discredit to law enforcement, an oppressive abuse of government power,” legal adviser Matt Heffron said at the time. 

It was a clear example of legal warfare waged by the state against a private citizen for daring to expose Planned Parenthood’s grisly commodification of aborted baby body parts.  

The California DOJ’s egregious actions against Daleiden at the behest of Planned Parenthood were intended to shut him up about the abortion giant’s involvement in fetal trafficking and to punish him for speaking out. 

“They are not afraid to use every bit of power at their disposal to force their agenda through,” Daleiden later said. 

“It was Kamala Harris that was given the direction to arrest David Daleiden when he exposed Planned Parenthood’s Baby Body Parts Trafficking Ring,” Liz Churchill noted on X. 

“Kamala Harris is a disgusting criminal,” Churchill continued. “She should be charged for what she did to him.”

SHOCKING: It was Kamala Harris that was given the direction to arrest David Daleiden when he exposed Planned Parenthood’s Baby Body Parts Trafficking Ring.

Kamala Harris is a disgusting criminal. She should be charged for what she did to him. pic.twitter.com/SH02SG4CIo

— Liz Churchill (@liz_churchill10) April 4, 2026

Fellow investigative journalist James O’Keefe congratulated Daleiden, saying, “It took 11 years defending himself over one story. This is what they do to people who hold them accountable.” 

“Nobody is held accountable because the people who have the power to do so are afraid of the retaliation,” O’Keefe added. “But David is different. His love of truth was greater than his regard for himself.”

“David beat Goliath,” Live Action’s Lila Rose declared.

In a social media post announcing the dismissal, Daleiden included a statement he posted in January 2025 when California dropped its case and expunged his record.  

“After enduring 9 years of weaponized political prosecution, putting an end to the lawfare launched by Kamala Harris is a huge victory for my investigative reporting and for the public’s right to know the truth about Planned Parenthood’s sale of aborted baby body parts. Now we all must get to work to protect families and infants from the criminal abortion industrial complex,” Daleiden wrote. 

He further explained:

Today, the State of California agreed to totally dismiss the unprecedented video recording case Kamala Harris brought against me 9 years ago, in exchange for my entering a new plea of “no contest” on a single charge. The agreement involves no admission of wrongdoing, no fines, and no probation. The new “no contest” plea -which cannot be used adversely-will be entered into judgment as a misdemeanor in 6 to 12 months, and then converted to a “not guilty” plea and dismissed.

7 of the 14 video recording charges initially brought in this case were dismissed halfway through as unsupported by probable cause. Other litigation continues about the constitutionality of antiquated state video recording laws like California’s. CMP’s undercover reporting at issue in the case led to a $7.8 million settlement in which two companies admitted illegally selling aborted fetuses from Planned Parenthood in southern California, a settlement with disgorgement of profits from the sale of aborted fetal organs in Arizona, and the disqualification of Planned Parenthood from state and federal funding in Texas for violations of medical standards and ethics documented on the undercover footage — where Planned Parenthood now faces a nearly $2 billion federal False Claims Act case from the disqualification. Taking the San Francisco case off the board allows me to focus fully on CMP’s mission to report on the injustices of taxpayer-funded experiments on aborted babies and continue to expand our groundbreaking investigative reporting.

🚨⚖️As promised, the final charge has been DISMISSED and the case completely expunged—

—after a couple months’ administrative delay, and a truly bizarre last-minute “April Fool’s” attempt by @PPFA and @NatAbortionFed to overturn the State’s agreement.

😅 More on that later… https://t.co/0skLCQ5pUW

— David Daleiden (@daviddaleiden) April 2, 2026