White House Press secretary Karine Jean Pierre decided that she would face journalists alone in a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. This was her 14th briefing since becoming the highest ranking White House official. And, as part of this hapless endeavor, she faced questions from both the left and right on abortion with the Biden administration set to expand the funding for abortions s well as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) visit to Taiwan.
Fox’s Peter Doocy used his time to press Jean-Pierre on the latter topic, starting with this quip that left Jean-Pierre chuckling about his word choice: “How come Republicans seem more jazzed about Speaker Pelosi’s trip than the President?”
“You’re going to have to ask Republicans. ‘Jazzed?’ Do they have jazz hands, Peter,” Jean-Pierre replied, adding in her attempt at some parental humor.
Doocy played a long for a few seconds before cutting back to the chase and whether the lack of public support for Pelosi visiting the island democracy boiled down to Biden being “worried about hurting” the “feelings” of Communist China dictator Xi Jinping (click “expand”):
DOOCY – Do I have Jazz hands?
JEAN-PIERRE: [LAUGHTER]Are they able to play with their hands?
Are they DOOCY?
JEAN-PIERRE: You said “jazzed” — that they’re feeling “jazzed.”
DOOCY – We have the Hill Team’s check. [LAUGHTER] But Mitch McConnell said, “I think it’s important for the Speaker to go to Taiwan.” Lindsey Graham said the idea of her going “is a good thing.” Chuck Grassley, “I’m sure glad that she went.” Is President Biden just worried about hurting Xi’s feelings?
JEAN-PIERRE: I — so you’re saying, because they said that, then we’re not “jazzed”?
DOOCY: Yeah. Absolutely.
JEAN-PIERRE: [LAUGHTER] We’ve been very clear — we’ve been very clear for, gosh, the past week or so, that the Speaker has the right to go to Taiwan. That is what we have stated.
Doocy kept pressing, wondering why it’s “so hard for the President just to say, ‘she’s a brave trailblazer, and I think it’s great that she went,’ like so many others” have, but Jean-Pierre followed John Kirby’s lead in sidestepping any attempt to praise Taiwan, insisting Biden views Pelosi in a broad sense as “a great trailblazer.”
On abortion, ABC’s Cecilia Vega came at Jean-Pierre for the left by fretting a new Biden executive order would merely “be directing the Health and Human Services Department to consider a number of actions” when there should be “urgency right now for women who need help” and for it to “actually kick in.”
In reality, what Vega meant by the use of the words of “urgency” and “help” was that women need to be able to commit murder on demand and out of convenience as, contrary to what liberals would want people to believe, pro-life laws across the country There are exceptionsProtect the mother’s health
Jean-Pierre offered a lengthy answer touting the fact that “it paves the way for Medicaid” (as in U.S. tax dollars) “to pay for abortions for women having to travel out of state” and that the HHS Secretary “will invite states to apply for Medicaid waivers to allow them to provide reproductive healthcare to women who live in states where abortions are banned.”
After conceding Biden’s limited in what he can do, Vega continued to press as if the need to have broad abortion access was some emergency (click “expand”):
VEGA: But what is the timeline — specific timeline — on this EO? This EO will help women get an abortion if they need one. Do we mean days? Or are we referring to weeks? Is this six-months?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, that’s a great question. We don’t have the details to share today, but HHS will soon have more on what a waiver could look like in the timeline as you’re asking me and — which would generally target, again, low-income women served by Medicaid and help cover certain costs, so HHS — as you know, the President is going to sign the executive order. It says “to consider.” Secretary Becerra will then work with his team to figure out the details and the timeline.
VEGA: One more question. Given the Hyde Amendment restrictions, how will you pay for women to travel across state lines to reach other places?
JEAN-PIERRE: So, that is something that HHS will come up with the details on that and —
VEGA: Have they — but you’re about to sign an EO. They haven’t figured it out.
JEAN-PIERRE: Well, we’re going to leave it to HHS to come up with the details on the specifics on how they’re going to work with states — if a state asks for a waiver — and what that’s going to look like. This is their responsibility. They’re going to come up with the specifics — again, with the details on how this is going to work. But again, this is what the President is doing to — he’s looking at everything that’s available to him on the table — whatever is legally possible, what he can use, his executive authority — to move forward on, and that’s what he’s doing.
CNN’s MJ Lee was in the same ballpark, asking why it’s taken six weeks for the Biden administration to propose subsidizing assistance for “patients who need to travel out of state — states — out of whatever state they’re living in now to get abortion services.”
Thankfully, EWTN’s Owen Jensen provided the view of pro-life Americans, noting they “don’t want their tax dollars paying for abortions” Biden and the Biden administration are looking to accomplish this. So why does Biden refuse to respect the beliefs of Catholics as well as his own faith?
Jean-Pierre refused to cede ground, insisting taxpayer funding for abortion is necessary in the event of protecting the life of the mother though “there are exceptions for moral…or religious objections to provide particular medical services” and “nothing…impacts those exceptions.”
Jensen wasn’t having it:
Catholic bishops claim that the government is trying to make doctors and nurses perform abortion and gender-transition surgery against their religious convictions. Do you believe that healthcare professionals should have the right to their consciences and be free from religious persecution?
Jean-Pierre doubled the down and said that doctors were required. “provide women” With “emergency medical care, including abortion services, to” Those “facing health and life-threatening conditions” However “there are exceptions for moral or religious objections.”
The administration has a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Catholic hospitals are being made to abandon their faith by Catholics, someone should have hit back how, if that’s the case, then why was the Obama-Biden administration Suing nunsThey are to be forced to purchase contraceptives.
Jensen closed the briefing by invoking the Hyde Amendment: “[O]n the proposal to have Medicaid fund travel expenses for women seeking abortion, how would that not violate Hyde if it’s using taxpayer dollars to pay for abortions?”
Not surprisingly, Jean-Pierre insisted their proposal would be legal because “we follow the law here.”
You can view the pertinent transcript for August 3’s briefing by clicking here
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