Kermit Gosnell
Kermit Barron Gosnell (born February 9, 1941) is an abortionist from Philadelphia. In 2011, Gosnell, alongside various co-defendant employees, was charged with eight counts of murder resulting in part from gross medical malpractice in treatment of patients at his clinics, as well as several lesser offenses. The murder charges related to a patient who died while under his care and seven newborns said to have been killed after being born alive during attempted abortions. In May 2013, he was convicted on three of the murder charges and chose to waive his right of appeal in exchange for an agreement not to seek the death penalty. He was sentenced instead to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Contents
Grand Jury Investigation
National Abortion Federation
The Grand Jury investigation into the abortion practice of Kermit Gosnell revealed that a National Abortion Federation inspector observed the dangerous, filthy conditions, but failed to report the danger to the proper authorities.
In addition, National Abortion Federation member clinic Atlantic Women’s Medical Services was allowing Gosnell to begin illegal third-trimester abortions on their premises, then complete them in his Philadelphia facility.[1]
Pennsylvania Department of Health
In 1993 the Pennsylvania Department of Health decided to stop inspecting abortion clinics from for political reasons. The reason given for this decision was that the deregulation and absence of inspection would make it easier for abortion clinics to operate, and in turn for women to access abortion services.[2]
For that reason, Gosnell’s clinic ran for 17 years without an inspection, from 1993 until the FBI raid in 2010, despite complaints throughout the years following 1993 pointing to Gosnell’s abuses and even to the claim that Gosnell had caused the death of Semika Shaw. In fact, filmmakers have shown that reports of Gosnell’s violations go back to 1989 and have continued until 2009; such reports claim perforated uteruses, patients that had contracted sexual diseases under Gosnell’s care, disgusting clinic conditions, administration of potentially deadly anesthetics to patients by unqualified, non-medical staff and many other similar reports.[3]
Despite being given numerous reasons to check the veracity of reports by investigating the clinic, the Department took no action on reports that, if acted on, would have allowed Gosnell to be trialed. The inaction of the Department gave tacit approval to the cruelty and carelessness perpetrated at the Gosnell clinic
References
- ↑ Report of the Grand Jury Misc. No. 0009901-2008 (accessed on 13 March 2012)
- ↑ Eric Sammons, 2011, ‘Gruesome Philly Abortion Clinic is the Norm, Not the Exception’. The Divine Life, Why We Were Created: A Blog by Eric Sammons (Accessed on 17 April, 2013)
- ↑ Cassy Fiano, 2013, ‘3801 Lancaster: Inside Gosnell’s House of Horrors and How this was Allowed to Happen’. Live Action News (Accessed on 17 April, 2013)
