The Obama administration is standing by Planned Parenthood following the release of several controversial videos, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday as he admitted he hadn’t actually watched the secretly recorded footage.
“I haven’t seen the videos. I can’t render my own judgment on that. People who have looked at the video have raised significant concerns about that, and I think anybody would question the source,” the White House spokesman said Monday on CNN. “I think that’s legitimate.”
Earnest’s remarks came during a line of questioning from CNN’s Chris Cuomo.
“Is this a moment in time to take a look at what Planned Parenthood does and say selling fetal baby parts for science or for whatever reason is not good?” Cuomo asked.
Earnest clung to a well-worn talking point first put out by Planned Parenthood, saying in response, “Chris, I don’t have a whole lot of insight into the specific policies and procedures that Planned Parenthood follows. But what they say, they say they follow the highest ethical standards in the industry.”
“You saw the videos though, Josh,” the CNN anchor continued. “You saw the videos. No high ethical standards at play there. Base stuff, ugly stuff.”
The videos in question are the product of a three-year long investigation by the Center for Medical Progress, a pro-life activist group.
One video shows Planned Parenthood’s senior director of medical services discussing doing “a little better than” breaking even for donating harvested organs.
Another video shows a Planned Parenthood executive negotiating reimbursement for specific fetal organs, including hearts, kidneys and livers, saying at one point, “It has been years since I talked about compensation [for fetal organs] … so let me just figure out what others are getting.”
“If this is in the ballpark, it’s fine. If it’s still low, then we can bump it up. I want a Lamborghini,” she said.
Other videos show Planned Parenthood affiliates seemingly discussing performing partial birth abortions so as to ensure specific organs remain undamaged during the abortion process.
It is illegal to profit from the sale of aborted fetal tissue. It is also illegal under federal law to perform partial birth abortions. Planned Parenthood has not explained what its senior director of medical services meant when she said “a little better than” breaking even. The abortion provider has also avoided explaining footage that appears to show affiliates discussing partial birth abortion.
Planned Parenthood and its defenders have so far responded to the scandal by accusing the Center for Medical Progress of “selectively editing” its videos, despite that the pro-life group has made all of its unedited footage available online.
The White House has repeated the “selectively edited” defense several times, despite that it doesn’t appear anyone in the Obama administration has actually watched the videos.
“There’s no denying the fact that the organization that is clearly anti-Planned Parenthood that put out the videos put them out not because of news value but because of shock value,” Earnest said Monday on CNN. “I haven’t seen the videos, but even based on the news coverage, the videos are shocking. ”
“Those who have taken a look at the videos have raised concerns about whether or not those videos are authentic, about whether or not they have been selectively edited in a way to misconstrue or even distort or mislead about what’s it that Planned Parenthood does,” he added.
Rep. Diane Black, R-Tenn., suggested Monday afternoon that Earnest and his colleagues should view the Planned Parenthood videos before dismissing them.
“He ought to at least watch the videos before commenting on them,” Black said.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton at one point referred to the content of the videos as disturbing, but she backtracked less than 48 hours later and voiced her total support for Planned Parenthood.
