Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy pressed White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre Monday on Vice President Kamala Harris’ comparison of abortion to slavery and President Joe Biden’s recent trip to Saudi Arabia.
The vice president said the U.S. has a “history of claiming ownership over human bodies” while talking about abortion during a Monday speech to the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) Convention. Doocy asked the press secretary whether Biden agrees with the comparison between abortion and slavery.
“Does the president agree with her that the recent Supreme Court decision on abortion access is similar to slavery?” Doocy asked.
“I have not seen her comments,” Jean-Pierre said. “I would like to see her comments for myself before—”
“Her comment was ‘we know, NAACP, that our country has a history of claiming ownership over human bodies. And today extremist, so-called leaders are criminalizing doctors and punishing women from making healthcare decisions for themselves,'” Doocy said.
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The press secretary agreed with Harris that doctors are being criminalized and women are losing their rights due to the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade. (RELATED: ‘So Where’s The Line?’: Doocy And Jean-Pierre Spar Over Pro-Abortion Protesters)
“Well, she’s correct. Today’s decisions are criminalizing doctors and essentially taking the rights away from women. Taking the freedom away from women. Really, taking away people’s privacy, that does matter,” Jean-Pierre said. “I appreciate you reading out what she said, I need to actually see exactly what was said in the complete context. That’s what I need to do as a spokesperson for the administration.”
“But I will say, the second part of what she said, the vice president is actually right. I just laid out what women are going through in this country because of an extreme decision that SCOTUS made. Because of what they did, it is going to upend and change the lives of women across the country.”
She then claimed “ultra-MAGA” Republicans are targeting contraception and marriage equality next.
Doocy then turned to Biden’s Friday trip to Saudi Arabia, asking whether she personally heard the president confront the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman about the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Jean-Pierre said the president clearly laid out what he addressed during the meeting with the crown prince.
“So ultimately, we get back from this trip, there’s no peace talks in the Middle East, there’s no new commitment to increase oil production in the Gulf, so what was the point of this trip?” Doocy asked.
The press secretary described the significance of two nations discussing topics including security, climate change and issues related to the American family.
“Why not insist on a commitment though? He gets back with no commitment, and the price of oil per barrel shot up,” Doocy said. “Is that what the president wanted? To go there and have the price of oil get more expensive?”
“We have seen gas prices go down in the past 34 straight days,” the press secretary said. She repeated the administration’s previous claims that the war in Ukraine led to rising gas prices, though costs surged to their then-highest levels since 2014 in November.
“There are outside factors that have led to gas prices going up,” she continued. “To food prices going up, to inflation going up.”
Gas prices decreased on average by $0.50 gallon in the past 34 days, she concluded.