White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters he had not seen the Planned Parenthood video and didn’t have “intimate knowledge” of the organizations’ practices during Friday’s press briefing.
Earnest, in response to a question about the Planned Parenthood video, said, “I have’t spoken to the president about this particular issue, and I’ll acknowledge I have not seen the particular video in question. I did read the news reports indicating that the policies that are followed by Planned Parenthood are entirely consistent with the strictest ethical guidelines that have been established in the healthcare industry. But for those kinds details, I’d obviously refer you to Planned Parenthood.”
Earnest was then asked if the president thought it was “ethical to use the remains of aborted fetuses for medical research.” He answered, “Well, there are medical ethicists that have taken a close look at this. And Planned Parenthood, i understand, has said that they follow those guidelines and in fact the highest of those ethical guidelines. But, for their compliance with them and what exactly that means, I’d obviously refer you to them. I’m not — I don’t have intimate detail of — or intimate knowledge of the kinds of practices that they –.”
Earnest also stated that he didn’t know if the president had seen the video or not.
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