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"Gosnell began an abortion
on a 29-week pregnant woman and then refused to take dilators out when the woman changed her mind" Part Four of Four Editor's note. By now all of you know that a Philadelphia Grand Jury Grand Jury Report culminated with abortionist Kermit Gosnell being charged with eight counts of murder. We are running a daily excerpt from the 261-page report. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We learned of another illegal, third-trimester abortion only because the mother changed her mind. In 2004, a 27-year old woman went to Gosnell, pregnant with her first child. She testified that she was surprised when Gosnell told her she was 21 weeks pregnant. On the first day of what was to be a two-day procedure, Gosnell inserted dilators in the woman's cervix. After Gosnell had finished inserting the laminaria, the woman asked him what happened to the babies after they were aborted. She testified that Gosnell told her they were burned. At home, thinking over how Gosnell disposed of the fetuses, the woman had a change of heart. She called her cousin and the cousin called Gosnell to tell him that they wanted him to take the laminaria out. And he did not want to return the $1,300 that the patient had already paid. The pregnant woman ended up going to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania to have the laminaria removed. It was determined at the hospital that she was 29 weeks pregnant. A few days later, the 27-year-old delivered a premature baby girl. She was treated at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and is today a healthy kindergartener. Either a doctor or a nurse at the hospital told the woman that what Gosnell had done was illegal. Gosnell recorded in the woman's chart that she was 24.5 weeks pregnant. Gosnell's illegal practice was a huge moneymaker. Clinic workers' testimony gave the jurors an idea of how profitable Gosnell's abortion business was. Maddline Joe, an employee of Gosnell's for nearly 20 years and office manager for the last two and a half, said that in the early years, the clinic averaged 20 first-trimester and 5 or 6 second-trimester patients a night. In the last few years, she said, the first-trimester business was down to 10 to 15 patients a night. As the first-trimester business dropped off, according to Latosha Lewis [another Gosnell employee], Gosnell began to do more very late-term abortions, often on out-of-state patients. These, Lewis said, brought in a lot of money. Lynda Williams provided the FBI with a handwritten chart listing what Gosnell charged for abortions at various gestational ages: 6 weeks – 12 weeks $330 13 weeks – 14 weeks $440 15 weeks – 16 weeks $540 17 weeks - 18 weeks $750 19 weeks – 20 weeks $950 21 weeks – 22 weeks $1,180 23 weeks - 24 weeks $1,625 But other employees said that what he charged was often more. They said he charged as much as $3,000 for a single late-term abortion. The great aunt of another patient testified that she paid $2,500. Even using conservative estimates, the amount of money that Gosnell took in every procedure night is staggering. If he did 20 first-trimester abortions at $330 a piece, and five 19-to 20-week abortion at $950, he would take in $11,350 a night. Similarly in the later years, if he performed 10 first-trimester and 5 late-second-trimester (23 to 24 weeks) abortions a night, Gosnell would still take in $11,425. And that does not include any of the illegal abortions past 24 weeks for which he charged much more, or the profits he made by selling additional anesthesia a la carte to first-trimester patients. This amounts to nearly $1.8 million a year – almost all of it in cash - assuming just three procedure nights a week. (Testimony indicated that he performed abortion from about 8:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m., three nights a week – for a total of 15 hours.) In the light of the testimony we heard that Gosnell performed the really late third-trimester abortions on Sundays, his take was likely much higher. And none of this includes his income from writing prescriptions – according to one law enforcement agent, Gosnell was one of the top three Oxycontin prescribers in the state of Pennsylvania. Please send your comments to daveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. Part One |