While for five weeks NBC News completely censored any mention of the Gosnell
abortion trial from its airwaves, in an interview with President Obama
conducted on Monday and aired on Wednesday's Today, co-host Savannah Guthrie wondered: "Have
you been watching the Gosnell trial? It's a Philadelphia abortion
doctor accused of gruesome crimes. Are you following it and do you think
it animates a larger debate about abortion in this country?" [Listen to the audio]
The President certainly wasn't "watching" the case on NBC since it was the
first time viewers of the network heard anything about the ongoing
trial.
Obama responded:
Well, I'm familiar with it. I can't comment on it because it's an active trial. What I can say is this. I think President Clinton said it pretty well when he said abortion should be safe, legal and rare. If an individual carrying out an abortion, operating a clinic or doing anything else, is violating medical ethics, violating the law, then they should be prosecuted.
As Media Research Center president Brent Bozell noted, the President hasn't hesitated to comment on other legal cases:
You are so quick to lecture, to criticize, even to condemn anyone in this country and anything about this country that in your view points to an injustice that needs to be addressed.
The facts weren't in (and still aren't) on the Trayvon Martin killing before you decided to use your bully pulpit to fuel the flames of racial division. You jumped right in, chose sides and told America that Trayvon looked like he could have been your son.
NBC also covered the trial on its website, even noting criticism of the media blackout on the story.
Here is a transcript of Guthrie's exchange with Obama about Gosnell aired on April 17:
8:20AM ET
(...)
SAVANNAH GUTHRIE: Have you been watching the Gosnell trial? It's a Philadelphia abortion doctor accused of gruesome crimes. Are you following it and do you think it animates a larger debate about abortion in this country?
BARACK OBAMA: Well, I'm familiar with it. I can't comment on it because it's an active trial. What I can say is this. I think President Clinton said it pretty well when he said abortion should be safe, legal and rare. If an individual carrying out an abortion, operating a clinic or doing anything else, is violating medical ethics, violating the law, then they should be prosecuted.
(...)
