Earnest: Planned Parenthood Vids I Haven’t Seen Were Released For ‘Shock Value’

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest admitted to not seeing the Planned Parenthood videos released by the Center for Medical Progress, but maintained the videos were released “not because of news value, but because of shock value” on Monday’s broadcast of CNN’s “New Day.”

Earnest began, “I don’t have a whole lot of insight into the specific policies and procedures that Planned Parenthood follows. But what they say, is that — they say they follow the highest ethical standards in the industry.”

After host Chris Cuomo objected, “You saw the videos. No high ethical standards in play there. Base stuff. Ugly stuff.” Earnest responded, “there’s no denying the fact that the organization, that is clearly anti-Planned Parenthood, that put out these videos, put them out, not because of news value, but because of shock value. And I haven’t seen the videos. But, even based on the news coverage, those videos are shocking. But those who have taken a look at the videos, have raised significant concerns about whether or not those videos are authentic, about whether or not they’ve been selectively edited in a way to misconstrue, or even distort or mislead, about what it is that Planned Parenthood actually does. So, I haven’t seen the videos. I can’t render my own judgment on that. But people who have looked at the videos, have raised significant concerns about that. And I think anybody would question the source. And I think that’s legitimate. What the president has said, is that Planned Parenthood provides valuable services — healthcare services, for men and women all across the country. And he would veto any legislation that tried to advance wholesale defunding for Planned Parenthood. Federal rules already require that Planned Parenthood cannot use any federal funding to perform abortions. But what they do, is they do use federal funding to provide healthcare services for men and women all across the country. That is a valuable service. And it would be a shame if we saw Republicans, once again, trying to take a step that would limit women’s access to healthcare.”

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