The following is an excerpt from theOctober 8 opening statement of Charles LiMandri, attorney for the Center for Medical Progress in the trial against Planned Parenthood in Sand Francisco.
Janet Smith is the author of Contraception: Why not? plus other works on Humanae Vitae. She has taught theology at Notre Dame, University of Dallas, Sacred Heart Seminary in Detroit and served on several Vatican commissions.
LIMANDRI: So he had all of this knowledge, but before he actually did the first undercover video that’s at issue in this case, ladies and gentlemen, he spoke to a preeminent ethicist, or a moral theologian, Janet Smith, who we believe will testify in this case, and asked her not just about the legality, because he had already researched for himself the legality of recording in a public place and to do research in this manner, to determine whether it’s a violent felony against a person.
But beyond that, he wanted to ask her about the morality of lying; using a fake driver’s license and an assumed name. And he had in-depth discussions with her and concluded that since this involved life-and-death issues, that it did justify using these means and techniques, which had been used repeatedly in the past by an undercover investigator, including on this very issue with the 20/20 report and the further Live Action reports that he had — investigations that he had been involved in….
Is Smith a secular attorney? Similarly, is Daleiden a secular attorney? If not, in my opinion, they are not qualified to comment on the secular legality of these acts.
The acts may be morally preferable. As I understand it, that is NOT the issue in the case at hand.
mike m. — All of our actions are either good or bad, moral or immoral — not on a “secular” or “political” or “religious” basis– but simply in a universal manner, before our Creator! For example— MURDER is always EVIL– whether you believe in God or not– and regardless of your political party. Our American legal system in Western Civilization, is based on our Judeo-Christian beliefs, as well as our ancient Greco-Roman heritage. MURDER of an unborn child, and selling its body parts– is EVIL!! Dr. Janet Smith, a preeminent ethicist and moral theologian– is a recognized expert in both the religious and secular realms.
So anything is justifiable as long as its a “matter of life and death” which is kinda subjective
It’s good Daleiden sought moral counsel, but Smith’s position on lying is both wrong and dangerous (others noted the same thing years ago after her piece in First Things. Intrinsic evils are always wrong, even with good intentions and ends, and lying is intrinsically evil because it frustrates the natural end (communication) of the faculty of speech. But, of course, not all evils are equal. Any lie Daleiden may have told in his investigation certainly pales in comparison to the horrible evil of abortion or profiting from the remains of aborted children.
Use of deceptions has been a common practice for centuries, to battle the enemy, and protect the innocent! Undercover policemen, CIA officials, soldiers doing specia upl wartime assignments, deceiving the enemy– are a few examples. To risk your life, to try to save others’ lives– or to try to expose and end criminal activity–is certainly heroic! Hope heroic agents of our government deceive ISIS, and end their worldwide terrorism! No question– this kind of deceptive action is HEROIC!!
But deception is different from lying.
A person can deceive without lying, for example, and lying is intrinsically wrong whereas deceiving isn’t. For a nice read on lying, I’d recommend Edward Feser. He has a whole series on the topic over at his blog.
Organizations like the police, military, CIA, and etc., all have particular rules and protocol to follow, when doing undercover work, and all other necessary work, to ensure the safety of our Nation. Journalists also have rules to follow, in the workplace, when they do undercover work. And David Dalaiden was one of them, exposing horrific evils! The question here, is really not about the ways in which he carried out his work, usung necessary “deceptions” and “lies.” Certain people do not need to know your “truths”– they need the cops to arrest them, ASAP, when caught– and throw them in jail! The evil people
exposed in Dalaiden’s undercover work should all be in jail, right now! I know Our Lord agrees! He wants Justice for His poor aborted children!
“So anything is justifiable. . .” ANYTHING? They were talking “. . . about the morality of lying; using a fake driver’s license and an assumed name.” Not ANYTHING. Just a very narrow subject. That’s all.
Numbers 13:1-20
“Then the LORD spoke to Moses saying, ‘Send out for yourself men so that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I am going to give to the sons of Israel; you shall send a man from each of their fathers’ tribes, every one a leader among them.’ So Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran at the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the sons of Israel.”
Quoted in bible-knowing-Jesus.com, no doubt an accurate quote, but I haven’t time to research it at the moment.
Since I was pretty well known by my real name in my local area in the 70s and 80s as a prolife activist, I once represented myself under a slightly altered name to local ob gyns listed in the local phone directory (actually speaking to their staffs) claiming I was gathering information about where women could obtain “safe, legal” abortions. By representing myself as being implicitly from the pro-abortion camp I was able to learn which practices would neither refer for abortions nor perform them. As it happened, not a lot was done to spread the information at the time. That is the only part I regret.
This may be a bit overused, but what if the Gestapo were to come to your house, in the attic of which are Jews to whom you’ve given shelter, and you are asked if there are any Jews on the premises? Are you supposed to say, “Sure, come and get them”? I know the case is strong that it is always wrong to lie, but I’ll say “no” to the Gestapo and take my chances. One of the requirements for serious sin is full consent of the will. Occasions arise when the will’s freedom is compromised by circumstances, say by what is going on in the local gas-chamber or abortion facility, and one is not free to neglect to do what he or she can do to protect the innocent.
Thomas, even Pope Pius XII had to deceive the Germans, when they occupied Italy, during WWII, to protect Jews he was hiding– and protect all other innocent people! Undercover police routinely catch criminals, using deceptions! This is a normal procedure, in matters of life and death! Countless good people have risked their lives, down through the ages, to save others– by deceiving the enemy! It is a high virtue– for which many have also later received high honors! Unquestionable!
Pope Pius XII also obtained false passports and devised fake baptismal certificates for Jewish refugees, during WWII, to smuggle them to safety! And Pope St. John Paul II did resistance work, helping Jews and others– and went to an underground seminary, during the war!
Protestant Gordon Thomas wrote a widely-praised history (about six years ago) titled The Pope’s Jews, available on Amazon. It details how documentation was falsified, with Pius XII’s blessing and at his direction, to save as many Jews as possible during WWII. I would not be surprised if those who criticize David Daleiden’s undercover techniques (which use certain misrepresentations to smoke out truth) may in some cases be pro-Planned Parenthood individuals following a sort of Alinksky-style strategy to attack a good man not by outright promotion of pro-abortion views, but by trying to erode support for him among the most fervent Catholics (the very ones who admire Daleiden the most) by coming on as “more Catholic than the pope,” or in this case, more Catholic than David Daleiden or Janet Smith.
By the way, Margaret Sanger who started Planned Parenthood was a Nazi sympathizer, and so was the Grand Mufti. Things have not changed all that much, have they?
When the Wise Men sought Baby Jesus, they asked King Herod where He might be. Herod did not know, but told the Wise Men to return to him, and report on their findings, if their search was successful. They suspected treachery– and after finally finding Baby Jesus, they departed in a different direction, and avoided King Herod! They saved the Divine Infant’s life! Wouldn’t you?? Or would you be dumb– and obey the evil King Herod, and tell him where to send his soldiers— to find the innocent Christ-child— and murder Him??
Oh– when I used the word, “you” at the end of my above post– I did not mean anyone, personally– just a figure of speech!
A relative married to a close family member narrowly escaped the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. She was aged 12, then, and was the.oldest of 12– the youngest was only 9 months old! When the Japanese soldiers got to her house, they killed her grandma and the family dog, and threw their bodies in a well. The 12 children hid in the jungle, separated from their parents. A month later, American soldiers found the children and helped them get on a submarine, and they came to San Francisco. Later, miraculously, in San Francisco, they were reunited with their parents! Many miraculous rescue stories occured, similarly, during WWII! God leads people to do what is necessary to save the innocent! When young, I also knew people who fought in their country’s resistance endeavors, in WWII– (like Pope St. John Paul II!)— very brave!
CR, suppose you had a Jewish mother and a Catholic father, during WWII, in Germany. Suppose your family hid your mother, and attempted to smuggle her across the border, and get her to Allied forces, to save her life. Suppose your family had to lie a lot, in carrying out this endeavor. What would you do??
CR– in the case I mentioned in my post of October 12th, at 6:39pm– wouldn’t you say, that you have a very highly important MORAL OBLIGATION, before Almighty God– to use “lies” and “deceptions” on the enemy– to save your Jewish mother’s ife??
“Suppose your family had to lie a lot, in carrying out this endeavor. What would you do??”
There’s no such thing as having “to lie a lot.” Lying is intrinsically wrong, so it can never be necessary to tell a lie. Ethical alternatives include (a) deception (which is not the same as lying), (b) deflective speech, and (c) broad mental reservation.
CR– Well, I greatly admire how Pope Pius XII and Pope St John Paul II– and many others!– risked their lives, with necessary lies, cheats, and deceptions to foil the evil Nazis, to save Jews (and many of the Jews they saved, they never even knew!) Hope you would do the same! Let’s call it a “necessary” or “righteous” lie, to save a life, from a vicious killer! Wouldn’t you do the same??
“Let’s call it a ‘necessary’ or ‘righteous’ lie . . . ”
If what you’re talking about is actually something different from a lie, then it’s important that we don’t call it a ‘necessary’ or ‘righteous lie’. I think that only confuses everything.
The deceptive practices of Pius XII and JPII — and I imagine others, like St. John Ogilvie, Bl. Miguel Pro, Joshua, and Caleb — are not what the Catholic tradition has meant by ‘lying’. Check out Edward Feser’s series on his blog, if you can. He has a very nice summary of the issue from a Thomistic and traditional Catholic viewpoint.
CR– yes, I was raised with the traditional Catholic– and Thomistic– viewpoint! But I am just more casual in my vocabulary, than you. I recall, in high school, being totally horrified, when a Latin teacher, a part-time seminarian– gave false grades to some students— so that they could skip classes, for big athletic competitions! The school got in trouble– and the cheating scandal got quickly fixed! I also recall being horrified, when the wife of a neighbor who was a State senator, bragged about cheating her way through college– they were national Democratic Convention delegates, and I wondered what else they did wrong!– this was long ago! Her son had been in the school scandal. He later went to Yale– and became a lawyer.
CR– I think we are just arriving at the same point, with different approaches– mine is more casual, although I know well, the teaching of Aquinas! Regardless– I hope you will be a big supporter of the excellent– but dangerous! — courageous, pro-life work of investigative journalist, David Dalaiden!
CR– Here is one more scenario. Suppose you were a high-ranking American POW in WWII, and the evil Nazis were questioning and threatening you. Would you betray your country, and “tell the truth,” figuring you did not break the Eighth Commandment??
Maybe Daleiden could do me a favor and ask moral theologian Janet Smith if it’s okay to dance with girls.