"House of Horrors" in West Philly
January 19, 2011
Abortion is an unmitigated evil. What is more, it is self-evidently wrong. We simply "can't not know" that abortion is wrong. It is a monumental wrong. It is not like other wrongs. It is the slaughter of the most vulnerable among us.
And now a genuine house of horrors has been discovered in my own city. Of course, this is nothing new. This child-killer's crimes had been known for some time. But as is often the case, the crimes committed in abortion clinics are often ignored for political reasons.
And now a genuine house of horrors has been discovered in my own city. Of course, this is nothing new. This child-killer's crimes had been known for some time. But as is often the case, the crimes committed in abortion clinics are often ignored for political reasons.
A doctor who gave abortions to minorities, immigrants and poor women in a "house of horrors" clinic was charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them given time limits and existing law, District Attorney Seth Williams said. Nine of Gosnell's employees also were charged.
Gosnell "induced labor, 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," Williams said.
Patients were subjected to squalid and barbaric conditions at Gosnell's Women's Medical Society, where Gosnell performed dozens of abortions a day, prosecutors said. He mostly worked overnight hours after his untrained staff administered drugs to induce labor during the day, they said.
Early last year, authorities went to investigate drug-related complaints at the clinic and stumbled on what Williams called a "house of horrors."
Bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses "were scattered throughout the building," Williams said. "There were jars, lining shelves, with severed feet that he kept for no medical purpose."
The clinic was shut down and Gosnell's medical license was suspended after the raid.
Gosnell and four workers were charged with murder, while five others were charged with controlled drug violations and other crimes. None of the employees had any medical training, and one, a high school student, performed intravenous anesthesia with potentially lethal narcotics, Williams said.
We have elected men and women who champion this grotesque procedure. We have empowered politicians who promise to keep this offensive evil legally protected. We have championed politicians who publicly encourage abortionist groups like NARAL and Planned Parenthood. It is a scandal.
