Gosnell Trial May Be Over, But Issue Still Matters
Finally, it's over. The trial of one of the most repulsive and repugnant murderers in history is finally over. The jury has rendered its opinion and the defendant now will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Although the story broke in March of 2011 when a grand jury indicted him, few Americans fully know the story of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, of the Women's Medical Society, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This was a doctor who specialized in late term abortions. The Grand Jury report stated:
This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women. What we mean is that he regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy – and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors. The medical practice by which he carried out this business was a filthy fraud in which he overdosed his patients with dangerous drugs, spread venereal disease among them with infected instruments, perforated their wombs and bowels – and, on at least two occasions, caused their deaths.
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When the trial began, Gosnell faced more than 260 charges. By the time the trial was over, the doctor of death would be found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of three babies. He was also found guilty of third-degree murder of Karnamaya Mognar, a Virginia woman who had died as a result of being over anesthetized.
The jury was then given the task of assigning the penalty for Gosnell's guilt. He was eligible for the death penalty but because of the decision of his attorney not to appeal the verdict, Gosnell escaped the ultimate punishment. He will now spend the rest of his life in prison.
When it was all said and done, Kermit Gosnell would be convicted of infanticide, racketeering and more than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania's abortion laws that prohibited third-term abortions and required counseling to women 24 hours in advance of the procedure.
So why does this case matter at all?
First, while woefully ignored by the majority of the secular press, this case lifts the shade on the dark secrets of the abortion industry. Details almost too gruesome to fathom from the Gosnell case remind us there is nothing positive about abortion. The mantra of "safe, legal and rare" might be a slick political slogan, but, in truth, it is nothing but a deadly snare for women who find themselves with unplanned pregnancies.
The story of the "house of horrors" from Philadelphia also illustrates these abortion mills are greatly in need of increased regulation and oversight. For over 15 years, state officials failed to do regular inspections at Gosnell's clinic before the facility was eventually raided and shut down.
But the most important lesson from this grotesque tale is that babies are people, not blobs of tissue. They are irreplaceable human beings whose tiny voices remind us of the eloquence of our Creator. Kermit Gosnell tried to silence them but his trial and conviction have given them a new voice.
