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Abortionist Kermit
Gosnell's "House of Horrors" Part One of Five By Dave Andrusko Good evening and thanks for being part of the discussion. Part Two is from NRLC, celebrating the introduction of two pro-life bills. Part Three tells us about Nebraska's attempt to pre-empt "web-cam" abortions . Part Four introduces you to "Rosa's First Photo Album." And Part Five is an overview of all the activities pro-life Pennsylvanians are taking part of in commemoration of the 38th anniversary of Roe. Over at National Right to Life News Today (www.nationalrighttolifenews.org), we have the first responses to the question," I am pro-life because…" In addition Dr. David Prentice write about "In-the-Womb Transplants with Adult Stem Cells." Finally, a quick reminder that the House vote to repeal ObamaCare was because your work created a pro-life House majority. Please send your comments on Today's News & Views and National Right to Life News Today todaveandrusko@gmail.com. If you like, join those who are following me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/daveha. "In its report, the grand
jury said failures of the Pennsylvania Department of Health and
other agencies allowed Gosnell's 'house of horrors' to persist
for decades, with baby body parts on the shelves and clogging
the plumbing, a 15-year-old high school student performing
intravenous anesthesia, and Gosnell's wife, a cosmetologist,
performing late-term procedures." "Among the many questions
raised by the grisly charges against West Philadelphia abortion
doctor Kermit Gosnell, one stands out: How did this go on so
long?" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The case against abortionist Kermit Gosnell and nine associates, including his wife, is so revolting that seemingly nothing could further shock the reader: eight charges of murder, including --according to the grand jury report--"seven specific incidents in which Gosnell or one of his employees severed the spine of a viable baby born alive." But the second-day stories also paint a picture of "what amounts to a scathing denunciation of state regulatory officials and, to a much lesser degree, the city's public health department," according to Marie McCullough's very thorough story in the Philadelphia Inquirer. According to the grand jury, for more than two decades, "government health and licensing officials had received repeated reports about Gosnell's dangerous practices. No action was taken, even after the agencies learned that women had died during routine abortions under Gosnell's care." "Had state and local officials performed their duties properly, Gosnell's clinic would have been shut down decades ago," the grand jury wrote. "If inspectors had looked solely for violations of Pennsylvania's abortion regulations, there would have been ample grounds to revoke the approval of Gosnell's clinic as an abortion provider --as was demonstrated when DOH [Department of Health] inspectors finally entered the facility in February 2010." As a press conference Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams "accused state officials of neglecting the safety of abortion seekers not by accident, but 'by design,'" the Associated Press (AP) reported. "Pennsylvania is not a third-world country," Williams said. "There were several oversight agencies that stumbled upon and should have shut down Kermit Gosnell long ago." Indeed the grand jury report charges that "State officials knew that Gosnell and his clinic were offering unacceptable medical care to women and girls, yet DOH failed to take any action to stop the atrocities documented by this Grand Jury." According to the AP, the initial one-year license given to Gosnell's Women's Health Clinic expired in 1980. "Other testimony and evidence revealed that: Gosnell's clinic was reinspected in 1989, 1992, and 1993," the AP reported. "Each time, deficiencies were found, including no nurses overseeing the recovery room, missing lab work, no obstetrician-gynecologist on staff, and out-of-date medication. Yet each time, state evaluators reapproved the clinic without requiring or verifying corrective actions." "The final inspection came in April 1993, four years after Gosnell had promised to hire nurses. There were none. The state cited Gosnell for expired medications and missing lab work but said they had been remedied--though there was no follow-up inspection-- three months later." Adding to the horror is the sheer brutality and indifference on display and the hapless women whom Gosnell preyed upon. Williams said Gosnell "forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord." Gosnell "typically worked weeknights, arriving hours after his unskilled staff administered anesthesia and drugs to induce labor," according to the AP. ("Authorities charged that Gosnell deliberately hired unqualified staff so he could pay them low wages," the AP reported. " Besides the five charged with murder, five other clinic employees, including Gosnell's wife, were charged with conspiracy, drug and other crimes. Pearl Gosnell, the doctor's third wife, performed extremely late-term abortions on Sundays when the clinic was otherwise closed, the report said. All 10 charged were in custody.") In addition to 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died at the clinic in November 2009, "and another woman who died, scores more were injured from perforated bowels, cervixes and uteruses, authorities said." The origins of the year-long investigation had nothing to do with abortion but stemmed from tips that police had received that "Gosnell was illegally selling thousands of oxycontin prescriptions to 'patients' he had never examined," according to Teresa Masterson of NBCPhiladelphia.com. Instead they "stumbled upon a stench-filled clinic with bags and bottles of aborted fetuses scattered throughout the building," the AP reported. "Gosnell also kept jars of severed feet on his shelves, Williams said. Gosnell also had a taste for macabre jokes, once muttering that a nearly six-pound baby born alive to a 17-year-old who was 7 1/2 months pregnant could 'walk me to the bus stop,' the report said." According to the grand jury report {which can be read at www.phila.gov/districtattorney/grandJury_WomensMedical.html), Gosnell's staff testified about "scores of gruesome killings" of infants born alive. "These killings became so routine that no one could put an exact number on them," the grand jury report said. Perhaps the best explanation why this could go on for decades came in this comment from the report. "We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color, because the victims were infants without identities and because the subject was the political football of abortion." |