Anti-abortion activists to turn themselves in to authorities

AUSTIN, Texas -- An attorney representing one of the indicted anti-abortion activists who made undercover videos about Planned Parenthood says the two plan to voluntarily turn themselves in to Texas authorities.

Murphy Klasing says David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt, who live in California, plan to come to Houston's Harris County Jail, where they will be processed and allowed to post bond.

The attorney, who represents Daleiden, says he doesn't know when that will happen.

Both activists face a charge of tampering with a governmental record, a felony. Daleiden was also indicted on a misdemeanor count related to purchasing human organs.

A lawyer for Daleiden confirmed to CBS News that the tampering charge is based on the use of fake identification cards.

Anderson said the grand jury cleared Planned Parenthood of any wrongdoing.

Daleiden's attorney says he plans to plead not guilty to the charges.

CBS News' Jan Crawford reports that Dalieden said their undercover techniques were the same as other investigative journalists -- a point underscored by Constitutional scholars like Cornell University's Michael Dorf.

"Tis could set a dangerous precedent and chill undercover investigations by legitimate journalists," said Dorf.

The tactics Daleiden used are often used by so-called "citizen journalists"-- activists from environmentalists to animal rights groups, seeking to expose wrongdoing.

Just last summer, activists won a significant free speech victory, when a federal judge struck down an Idaho law banning undercover operations in the dairy industry.

Judge Lynn Winmill referenced the groundbreaking work "The Jungle," when Upton Sinclair went undercover in Chicago's meatpacking industry, "exposing the unfair labor practices, cruelty to animals, and unsanitary conditions of meat processing plants in the 1900s."

In addition, Planned Parenthood has become a lightning rod in the 2016 campaign. Most Republican presidential candidates object to continued federal financing of the organization. At the beginning of January, Planned Parenthood endorsed former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton for president.

In November, a man from North Carolina opened fire at a Colorado Planned Parenthood clinic and killed three people, including a police officer.

Suspect Robert Lewis Dear while being taken into custody after the Nov. 27 shooting, said "no more baby parts."

During a court hearing in December, Dear declared, "I am guilty, there will be no trial. I am a warrior for the babies."

After the shooting, Planned Parenthood officials also linked the attack to the "negative environment" created by the anti-abortion critics of Planned Parenthood services.

CBS News' Paula Reid contributed to this report.