By MICHAEL PRESCIA
CONTRIBUTING WRITER
Dr. Kermit Gosnell is a name not enough people know. Barely mentioned and completely absent from mainstream media sources, Gosnell’s crimes and current trial are largely unknown by the public.
Despite the three years since the primary investigation of his Women’s Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia in 2010, the millions of dollars Gosnell has made off of the exploitation of women through his clinic and the eight identified murders that he has committed, Gosnell remains a stranger to most Americans.
According to the Report of the Grand Jury (which is available for free online), on February 18, 2010, the FBI, DEA and Philadelphia Police Department investigated Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society clinic based on reports of illegal prescription drug activity. What they found Gosnell’s clinic to be was what they described as a “house of horrors.”
They found blood, cat feces, unsanitary surgical procedure rooms, blocked emergency exits, rusted, outdated and unsterile equipment, corroded tubes doubly used for administering abortions and oral airway assistance and jars, boxes and piles of exposed fetal remains.
Gosnell’s clinic was known as the place to go for abortions after the twenty-four week mark when abortion becomes illegal in Pennsylvania, even though a fetus is viable to live outside of the womb at about twenty weeks.
Women could get medications at whatever dosages they desired, and abortions could be performed at any point: pre-birth, at birth and even right after birth in the clinic so long as they had the cash to pay for such services.
One of the most appalling facts surrounding Gosnell’s “house of horrors” is that his clinic went uninspected for more than 15 years. Due to the lack of regulation, high-school dropouts and unlicensed workers were administering anesthesia, prescribing medications and assisting Gosnell in performing thousands of abortions. Within those 15 years, patients contracted sexually transmitted infections from reused, unsterilized instruments.
A woman named Karnamaya Mongar died directly at Gosnell’s hands in 2009 after an abortion at 19 weeks, and others died days after his services. So far seven post-birth murders by Gosnell’s “snipping [spinal cords] method” have been identified. Difficulty remains in determining details and linking further deaths because of his facility’s poor records, but it is believed that hundreds more have died through Gosnell’s “snipping method.”
The Report of the Grand Jury is difficult to read because of the gruesomeness of the included pictures and description of Gosnell’s methods. One must wonder why such a heinous crime has not been included in the media. Is it because the case is too graphic to include, or are there other reasons for such a lack of coverage?
Shortly after the death of Karnamaya Mongar in 2009, Gosnell applied to become a member of the National Abortion Federation (NAF), an association of abortion providers that upholds the strictest health and legal standards to ensure the safety of its patients.
Gosnell’s application was obviously rejected after a representative from NAF inspected Gosnell’s facilities. The representative did not report Gosnell to authorities, though, despite it being the worst clinic she had ever seen.
Likewise, there have been other unreported abortion clinics, though not as bad as Gosnell’s, where licenses have been revoked due to unsafe facilities where unqualified workers continue to operate, endangering lives throughout the United States.
It is important to remember that while Gosnell’s methods and endangering practices are deplorable across the board, the late gestational and even post-birth stages at which he provided abortions are not unanimously frowned upon.
On more than one occasion, President Obama has voted against the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act, an act that provides legal protection to all born babies, wanted or not, including the right to medical care.
Additionally, Planned Parenthood has recently opposed similar measures such as the HB 1129 Florida bill that protects post-birth infants who survive attempted abortions.
The votes against both pieces of legislation illustrate opposition to regulation of the abortion industry, even in such extreme cases where those already born are not provided protection.
Only within the last few weeks have abortion providers and organizations said anything about Gosnell. And what such organizations have stated are short tweets or statements about how abortion should remain “safe and legal” without delving into any talk of regulation.
Why has it taken over three years since the investigation of Gosnell’s clinic for anything to be said?
Why are these organizations that claim to be pro-women and interested in protecting the safety and health of women not up in arms about Gosnell or the lack of regulation that leads to such deadly conditions?
Perhaps Gosnell’s court case is not being widely covered by the mainstream media because it poses further challenges to the unregulated nature of the abortion industry and the question of when life begins that abortion providers and organizations try to avoid.
Michael Prescia, FCRH ‘14, is a theology major from Deer Park, N.Y.
