Group behind antiabortion videos is something of a mystery

SACRAMENTO — It calls itself the Center for Medical Progress, and its name has been all over the news in the past few weeks after it began releasing hidden-camera videos that set off an uproar over the use of tissue from aborted fetuses in medical research.

An abortion provider group is suing it over its clandestine tactics, and the California attorney general’s office has accused it of falling behind on its fees and paperwork and has opened an investigation into its activities.

The center’s CEO defended the organization, saying it has been true to the mission it stated when it registered with the attorney general’s office for nonprofit status in 2013: to “monitor and report on medical ethics and advances.”

The group’s release of videos in which officials at abortion providers discuss the use of aborted fetuses for research has set off investigations into whether Planned Parenthood is profiting from the sale of fetal tissue — a claim it denies.

In late July, shortly after the group released the first of its videos, the attorney general’s office sent it a delinquency notice saying it hadn’t paid the required fees for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 and hadn’t submitted necessary copies of its IRS forms.

Vicki Saporta, president of the National Abortion Federation, a major abortion rights group, said the Center for Medical Progress is simply a front for a few antiabortion activists who set up sting operations to harass abortion providers.