It could be
argued that
Kermit Gosnell is America’s most prolific serial killer. For
decades he
operated an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia which catered
mostly to poor,
urban women who did not want to be pregnant. Many women who
came to the clinic
were far along in their pregnancies. While some abortionists
worry about the
possibility of a child being born alive in late-term
abortions, Gosnell didn’t
because he made sure abortions would result in a dead child,
even if it meant
killing children who were born alive.
The media
adage “if it
bleeds, it leads” has at least one glaring exception. If
children who survive
abortions are the ones who are bleeding, the story won’t lead.
Not only has
it not led, the
story of Kermit Gosnell on trial has been largely ignored by
national networks.
While local reporters have daily been chronicling the
horrifying exploits of
Gosnell and his staff, national networks have taken a pass.
Stories which
reveal the logistics of “choice” won’t be coming to a
television near you.
According to
his employees,
Gosnell used surgical scissors to cut the spinal cords of
hundreds of children
who survived abortion attempts at his rundown clinic.
Prosecutors, who lack
physical evidence to charge him with more killings, have
charged Gosnell with
killing 7 infants who were born alive following abortion
procedures and a woman
named Karnamaya Mongar who died while having an abortion due
to a deadly dose
of anesthesia drugs.
While the
testimonies told by
clinic employees are shocking, almost unbelievable and
undeniably newsworthy,
the vast majority of the American public has likely never
heard of Kermit
Gosnell. It is, however, a story that needs to be told.
In February of
2010, FBI
agents and local detectives executed search warrants at
Gosnell’s abortion
clinic looking for evidence that Gosnell was writing illegal
prescriptions. They
found something much worse.
The Grand Jury
Report of the
Gosnell case notes that “when the team members entered the
clinic, they were
appalled, describing it to the Grand Jury as ‘filthy,’
‘deplorable,’
‘disgusting,’ ‘very unsanitary, very outdated, horrendous,’
and ‘by far, the
worst’ that these experienced investigators had ever
encountered. There was
blood on the floor. A stench of urine filled the air. A
flea‑infested cat was
wandering through the facility, and there were cat feces on
the stairs. Semi‑conscious
women scheduled for abortions were moaning in the waiting room
or the recovery
room, where they sat on dirty recliners covered with
blood‑stained blankets.”
Gosnell’s
license was quickly
suspended and in January of 2011 he was arrested and charged
with eight counts
of murder. His trial began on March 18, 2013.
The testimony
of abortion
clinic workers describing the actions of Gosnell and climate
in the clinic has
included one staffer sharing how she freaked out when she
heard the screaming
of one child who survived an abortion, another noting how he
saw one baby take
a breath, and another relaying Gosnell’s explanation for why
he kept the
severed feet of some of his victims in dozens of jars.
