Dr. Kermit Gosnell's Trial

[ILoveJellybeans]

That is disgusting, and I dont think it counts as abortion if the viable baby is delivered alive and then killed.

This would happen more often if abortion was illegal. If its legal, there are standards they have to follow, such as making sure equipment is clean, what procedures they are allowed to use, what limits they have in terms of how far along they are in the pregnancy...if abortion was illegal, there would be none of that.

[lilwriter85]

Latisha has blogged about Gosnell and on off topic note, she has bought into the Sandy Hook conspiracy theories.

theargonfamilylife.blogspot.com/2013/04/fed-up-heart-broken.html

Do not ask me why, but I stayed up last night catching up on the news. Normally I avoid it like the plague, because there is just so much garbage. On the other hand, I can not just close my eyes and plug my ears, being one to ignore the wicked we ought to speak against. I find it ironic, that Gosnell's gruel slaughters of live babies, is hardly being spoken of, yet the media is pumping out their venom regarding the alleged murders of Sandyhook victims, in order to abolish the second amendment.

This man is wicked to the core. Vile, perverted, void of any natural human morality. When is America gonna realize that the abortion industry is crawling with this? The answer: never, but that is no excuse to not try to fight anyhow. So, since no one else wants to report him, I will. Since the government and media would love to get rid of this story, I will do my small little shout out. You can read Gosnell's story using the link below. I weep over these children, my heart hurts, this is a wicked, wicked time. :( God help us. So thankful these babies are in heaven with Jesus, perfectly whole, being loved and treated like their lives matter.(Tears).

No, Latisha the abortion industry isn't crawling with doctors like Gosnell. I feel sorry for the safe abortion providers who are going to suffer because of the shit Gosnell did.

[KitCatCadillac]

As horrifying and heartbreaking as this case is, it makes me so, so thankful for all the doctors and nurses out there that continue to provide compassionate, legal, and SAFE abortion care for women that need it. If any of them are reading this - THANK YOU!

[snarkbillie]

As horrifying and heartbreaking as this case is, it makes me so, so thankful for all the doctors and nurses out there that continue to provide compassionate, legal, and SAFE abortion care for women that need it. If any of them are reading this - THANK YOU!

My first thought and comment on someone's facebook when this story was shared was that this will be come way more common as the pro-life brigade continues to make abortion services harder to obtain. This guy was running a back alley clinic with no oversight and abusing women and children. Do they honestly think that making abortion harder to get legitimately is going to stop things like this? No. The best thing they could do is make abortions easy to obtain and quit defunding programs that provide oversight of clinics.........but they don't want to do the right thing.

[Bloo]

There were no reports on this case as it progressed because, as I understand it anyway, there was a gag order. People were ordered to keep silent on it, and there was no news on it because the courts knew this would be insane.

Also, if the fetus is delivered alive and takes a breath (which can be proven post mortem), it's no longer a fetus, it's a legally living child, so the crime there would definitely be murder.

[Kitty Luna]

I'm a resident of Philadelphia and I've been keeping up with this story as it developed. I'm also a CRNP at the emergency room at the hospital nearest to Gosnell's clinic.

Gosnell's clinic was known for providing abortions no questions asked, as long as you had the cash. The other two clinics in the city don't have that reputation and are considerably more costly. His practices were an open secret in the medical community. I personally never saw any women who injured by his clinic, but they were patients at our ER and the other nearby ER in our hospital system. According to state law, medical providers are required to report injuries and complications from abortions. The Grand Jury reports states that not all the injuries/complications seen at our health system were reported. In addition to this there were many other injured patients who were seen who refused to name the clinic that performed the abortion that left them with infections or other complications.

When TRAP went into affect, PA went from 22 abortion clinics to 13. After Casey left office (who supported TRAP) and Ridge came in (who didn't support it) it is said that regulators were asked to turn their heads to violations because they didn't want to close any more abortion clinics. There were many, many people who knew of the horrible conditions there and reported the conditions, but nothing was ever done. The Philadelphia Dept of Health blamed the state saying that they didn't have the authority to close the clinic.

Here's my main issue with the whole thing.....Gosnell was providing a service that was in demand. If women in PA didn't want abortions after 24 weeks, he wouldn't have needed to perform them. In PA, medicaid and health plans funded by the state will not pay for abortion unless the pregnancy is life threatening. In NJ, medicaid funds are available for elective abortions. IMHO, poor women who wanted abortions in PA have had to undergo very dangerous procedures in a dangerous place because they needed time to gather the funds to terminate their pregnancies. I may be totally wrong, but if medicaid provided funds for abortion, maybe some of these women going for abortions post-24 weeks could have had a much safer procedure at a clean, sterile clinic instead of relying on a house of horrors...

[LilMissMetaphor]

Whether a 14 year old minority walks into Gosnell's disgusting, filthy, understaffed clinic and has her 8 month old baby ripped out of her, and then its spine is snapped, or a 30 something married white woman goes to a clean, safe, sanitary, well staffed clinic and has a chemical abortion at 6 weeks, a beating heart is still stopped, and we should be equally horrified, upset, and moved to action.

Sorry, I keep quoting Darby Sproul, but she's so militant it's crazy.

[thoughtful]

Gosnell's gruel slaughters of live babies

I don't think he killed them with watery cereal.

Has she been reading Oliver Twist? If so, she'd know that a surfeit of unwanted children is more likely to lead to gruel-ty than keeping abortion safe and legal, and making sure people like Gosnell are stopped before they begin.

[Dysfundamental]

I didn't see anyone calling for the outlawing of primary care medicine during Harold Shipman's trial.

[infooverload]

I'm glad to know there is a general gag order. One of the more conservative people on my Facebook news feed posted a thing that questioned why the media was being silent. I so want to go and put there is a gag order under that post, but figure it is not worth the effort, because he lives in his own little Fox news feed bubble world.

[Rosa]

you could link him to a bunch of MSM stories from back when this went through grand jury. The trial just started, there have been a bunch of stories just recently. When he's convicted, there will be more.

[Blahblah]

Snip

Here's my main issue with the whole thing.....Gosnell was providing a service that was in demand. If women in PA didn't want abortions after 24 weeks, he wouldn't have needed to perform them. In PA, medicaid and health plans funded by the state will not pay for abortion unless the pregnancy is life threatening. In NJ, medicaid funds are available for elective abortions. IMHO, poor women who wanted abortions in PA have had to undergo very dangerous procedures in a dangerous place because they needed time to gather the funds to terminate their pregnancies. I may be totally wrong, but if medicaid provided funds for abortion, maybe some of these women going for abortions post-24 weeks could have had a much safer procedure at a clean, sterile clinic instead of relying on a house of horrors...

That makes a lot of sense. If free or low co-payment early abortion is available then women would surely use that option. I can't believe that late term abortion is a preferred option for anyone. Can you imagine knowing you are pregnant at 6 weeks, needing an abortion, and being forced to carry that pregnancy for months while you scrape together funds? If that delay into illegal abortion due to gestational date is due to financial reasons then shame on the system for forcing low income women into feeling that this is their only option.

And as an aside I can't see how anti-abortionists can use this case as an argument for their position. This putrid man is not representative of the abortion industry in general. Making all abortions illegal would just bring morons like this into the backyard provision of abortions at all stages, not just late term.

[WonderingInWA]

I am pro-choice. There are probably a million different reasons women seek 3rd trimester abortions including drug use, job security, family issues, etc. But this guy was charging a LOT for even the 2nd trimester abortions and then killing the babies that were born live in a manner you wouldn't wish on a farm animal. In deplorable conditions. Which is his true crime. And his staff knew and they did it for him in his absence.

Is he in custody? I can't seem to find anything about the current status. I guess the grand jury report was done awhile back. He will end up killing himself before he ever is convicted. That's how these things usually work.

[formergothardite]

Someone on my FB newsfeed is claiming that this sort of thing happens all the time in Canada because they have no abortion regulations at all in Canada.

[sassycupcake]

I completely agree with everyone who said that this is a glimpse into what the world would look like if abortion were made illegal. What we should be trying to figure out is a) why his patients came to him in the first place; b) what prevented them from seeking abortion care earlier on and elsewhere; and c) what sorts of conditions need to be created in lower-income communities to prevent this from happening again.

A) Money. The women who desperately cannot afford to raise a(nother) child are the same women who desperately cannot afford quality abortion care at a licensed clinic. And while many of these women have their healthcare provided through Medicaid or even insurance from a low-paying job, most do not have abortion coverage (thanks to anti-choicers and their precious Hyde Amendment)

B) Still money. When women have to save up what little money they have for an abortion, they are often pushed past the legal limit for abortions in their state. This situation is getting worse and worse, as states pass unconstitutional early bans on abortion (20 week, 12 week, and 6 week bans have been passed in the last year).

c) We need mandatory comprehensive sex ed in public schools and accessible public outreach programs for those who are already out of school and missed it. We need free/affordable and accessible birth control clinics for low income individuals (See: St. Louis, which saw its abortion rate plummet when it handed out free IUDs to people who need them). We need legislation to crack down on "pro-life" crisis pregnancy centers, which use "free ultrasounds" as a tactic to bring women in and lie to them about their due date so that they put off having an abortion until it's too late (See: 12th and Delaware). We need to reverse anti-choice TRAP laws that drive abortion providers out of states and force women to travel hours or days to get the medical care they need. We need to abolish "waiting period" and "informed consent" laws that only serve to deter women from getting the abortions they have already decided on.

And we need to do something about the pervasive, obnoxious, harassing, and at times terrorist "pro-life" movement. I wholeheartedly believe that if the state authorities weren't constantly overrun with false reports and prank calls about Planned Parenthood and other reputable clinics, they would have done something about this terrible man much sooner.

[FakePigtails]

CNN's reporting that a verdict's been made, no word on what it is just yet though.

[Salamander]

CNN's reporting that a verdict's been made, no word on what it is just yet though.

It says [link=http://www.cnn.com/2013/05/13/justice/pennsylvania-abortion-doctor-trial/index.html]here[/link] that

A jury has found Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell guilty of three counts of first-degree murder.

Couldn't find further details as of yet.

[Buzzard]

Looks like 3 of the 4 babies and involuntary manslaughter in the death of the patient.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I predict that my Facebook feed will go wild any minute...

[Alice_Fraggle]

What the anti-abortionists fail to realise is that by outlawing abortion, you wont see less of this sort of thing, you'll see more of it.

When abortion was illegal there was a thriving network of underground abortionists. Some were good people who did their best to make abortion available and safe for women who needed it. Many were not. Many were unethical people with little medical training, who worked out of unsanitary basements, administered dangerous medications, all to make a fast buck because they knew there will always be desperate women who will seek abortion regardless of the legalities.

Make abortion illegal and you'll have more Dr Kermit Gosnells and you'll have more dead women and dead fetuses.

I completely agree with you on this. I often say that I'm not "Pro-Abortion" (who really is?) but I'm "Anti-Coat Hanger". This guy is a disgusting piece of shit, but if abortion is illegal there *will* be more of this.

I wonder if he kept the feet in jars (what a disgusting thing to do!) as "trophies" like some serial killers keep? That's the only thing I can think of. I don't often have a weak stomach, but this is making my stomach upset. Those poor little babies.

[laura oz]

The man is a monster, and if the death penalty is on the table I can't think of a more deserving recipient. What he did has made every prolifer use this as the standard by which all abortions are judged, and I just get so tired of explaining that what he did is not the norm----->he faced criminal charges and prosecution for a reason. He and his staff disgust me.

[infooverload]

The man is a monster, and if the death penalty is on the table I can't think of a more deserving recipient. What he did has made every prolifer use this as the standard by which all abortions are judged, and I just get so tired of explaining that what he did is not the norm----->he faced criminal charges and prosecution for a reason. He and his staff disgust me.

An abortion provider on Reality Cast said "Saying Kermit Gosnell is reflective of all abortion providers is akin to saying Steve Martin's portayl of a dentist in Little Shop of Horrors is reflective of all dentists."

[oil]

But whats the difference of putting the feet in jars or throwing them in the bio-hazard garbage can?

If some one agrees with allowing abortions on demand, since a woman should have authority on her own body, if its 6 months and didnt breathe yet but its alive, shouldnt the doctor snip the spine to complete the abortion? How else can the fetus be aborted?

[formergothardite]

You really don't see a difference between keeping feet in jars and disposing of fetal remains in a safe way? This guy wasn't performing abortions how they are supposed to be done.

[oil]

You really don't see a difference between keeping feet in jars and disposing of fetal remains in a safe way? This guy wasn't performing abortions how they are supposed to be done.

Except for being morbid creepy, no I dont see the practical difference. Disposing of fetal remains in a safe way, safe for who? If the feet are in a chemical jar, no staff can become ill from decompositing tissue. There is safety.