Jury Selection Slated March 3 in Trial of Abortionist Kermit Gosnell

In 2011, it was a sensational news story, and rightly so. Authorities went to an abortion mill in Philadelphia that had not been inspected for many years and discovered one of the most grisly late-term abortion practices in American history. Kermit Gosnell has been charged with seven counts of first-degree murder for the deaths of babies aborted alive and then intentionally killed when their spinal cords were slit. He is also charged in the death of a woman who overdosed on drugs Gosnell prescribed. In all, Gosnell has 30 criminal charges pending.

A Grand Jury was convened at the time of the discovery to determine if a crime had been committed. Its report was a scathing indictment of the horrendous conditions in the clinic, how Gosnell performed late-term abortions, what was stored in his clinic, and his mishandling of drugs.

The Grand Jury summarized this practice by noting that the killing of babies who survived late-term abortions was intentional.
“Killing really had to be part of Gosnell’s plan. His method for performing late-term abortions was to induce labor and delivery of intact fetuses, and he specialized in patients who were well beyond 24 weeks. Thus, the birth of live, viable babies was a natural and predictable consequence. The subsequent slitting of spinal cords, without any consideration for the babies’ viability, was an integral part of what Gosnell’s employees called his ‘standard procedure.’ … Gosnell’s intent to never resuscitate was obvious from his failure to employ even minimally qualified personnel or to have the equipment necessary to save the lives of newborn infants. The policy he instituted and carries out was not to try to revive live, viable babies. It was to kill them.”

Jury selection in the trial begins on March 3.

Barbara Lyons