If You'd Like to Rebuke the Mainstream Media, Buy a Ticket to See 'Gosnell'
You need to go see the new movie "Gosnell: The Trial of America's Biggest Serial Killer," starring actor Dean Cain in the leading role.
It's in theaters nationwide this Friday. And while you're at it, take several friends with you.
But if you've never heard about this film, I can't say I blame you. You're not alone.
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Not only should you go see it if you care about the plight of unborn children and their mothers, but a purchase of this particular movie ticket is a rebuke to the disgraceful behavior of the American mainstream press a few years ago.
Maybe I'm already starting to sound too much like President Trump railing against fake news, but it sure chaps me that much of the general public still does not know about this story. What is worse, the media's appalling conduct about this continues to this day.
For those who remain unfamiliar with what happened, the trial of Kermit Gosnell — a Philadelphia abortionist who was convicted in May 2013 of first-degree murder in the deaths of a few newborns and involuntary manslaughter in the death of one of his patients — was almost completely ignored in national news outlets when the proceedings began. Although it ought to have been a front-page, above-the-fold crime story, the national news media was only forced to cover it after weeks of intense outcry and pressure from independent citizen journalists, pro-life activists and some Republican legislators.
Gosnell's undoing all began in 2011 when police raided his clinic in a sketchy Philadelphia neighborhood as part of a narcotics bust. But what they found inside was a house of horrors straight out of "Silence of the Lambs."
The remains of human fetuses stored in refrigerators. Forty-seven dead babies found in the basement. Feral cats scampering around the facility. The severed feet of dead babies preserved in small jars. Rusty, unsterilized medical instruments and worn out equipment. An overwhelmingly foul stench. Staff administering medication and facilitating medical services for which they had no formal training.
The movie shines a light on all of this very effectively.
In addition to the many thousands of abortions Gosnell performed, babies were sometimes born alive at his center and when that happened he cut their spinal cords with scissors. We will never know how many he murdered in this grisly fashion.
And then there were his adult victims, such as Karnamaya Mongar (the patient for whom he was convicted of involuntary manslaughter), a Bhutanese refugee who had just moved to the United States; and Semika Shaw, an African-American woman. Both women died after undergoing abortions at his clinic.
To add insult to injury, the fetid, unsanitary conditions at Gosnell's facility where he carried out his three-decade long killing spree were consistently ignored by state authorities and health inspectors.
I got to preview "Gosnell" a few weeks ago at a private screening in Washington, D.C.
As the trial unfolds, viewers discover that there isn't much distance between what Gosnell did at his filthy chop shop and what other abortionists routinely do in settings where the process is supposedly cleaner and the standards of care ostensibly higher.
I will leave it to the professional film critics to comment on the acting and cinematography except to say I thought they were well done.
But the moment in the movie that gripped me the most was a scene during the trial when an expert witness, a doctor who performs abortions portrayed by actress Janine Turner, testifies on the stand that she has done tens of thousands of abortion procedures over the course of her medical career, speaking matter-of-factly, as though it was nothing.
When Gosnell's attorney questions her about what happens when a baby is accidentally born alive during an abortion she stammers, insisting that it does not happen, and then her demeanor changes as she becomes uncomfortably aware that her sophisticated professionalism is being challenged. When pressed further, she admits that in the event that a baby is born alive during a botched procedure the protocol is that the infant is given "comfort care."
In other words, the child is left to die.
That's not so different than what Gosnell did, his attorney points out, seeming to argue that the man on trial was more noble than the board-certified medical professionals who do this regularly, because with a quick snip to their necks he did not drag out the babies' "comfort care" demise for hours.
Viewers should note that the script for the trial scene is faithfully derived from the actual court documents. The proceedings really happened as they are depicted on screen.
"Gosnell" was made thanks to approximately 30,000 people from around the world who donated money in an indiegogo crowdfunding campaign and the fierce determination of journalists and filmmakers Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer. Now captured in motion picture format in hopes that the public will finally know the truth, the filmmakers have emphasized that the media's chicanery regarding the Philadelphia abortionist's heinous acts is as vital to the story as the barbarism itself, which they describe at considerable length in their book, Gosnell: The Untold Story of America's Most Prolific Serial Killer.
Yet not to be outdone, the mainstream media and now Big Tech continue to insist on framing the story of Kermit Gosnell misleadingly, including suppressing their team's recent promotional efforts.
McAleer told me Monday in a brief phone interview that NPR would not even allow them to advertise the movie because they did not want the world to know Gosnell was an "abortionist."
"Then we've got Facebook, which has blocked 30 of our ads, which is basically our whole advertising strategy. They don't want this story out there," he said.
He maintained that most reporters and editors in purportedly mainstream newsrooms across the nation, apparently along with the powers that be at Facebook, regard abortion as sacrosanct and therefore refuse to report on it fairly or allow discussion of the subject. They define the issue on their narrow terms in order to protect it at all costs, no matter how much they manipulate public perceptions, journalistic integrity be damned, he explained.
"I didn't come into this as a pro-life activist; I had no idea of the abortion world," McAleer recounted.
"To me, it was very surprising coming out of journalism background. I thought this would be a very interesting topic that would garner a lot of debate. I didn't think it would garner a lot of censorship. But boy, was I wrong."
As for me, I'm still somewhat of a newcomer to the journalism business. But even as a newbie, one thing I cannot stand both as a reporter and as a consumer of news is when the very people responsible for finding the facts and uncovering the truth refuse to do so. And that's what happened in the case of Gosnell.
So I'd like to reiterate: to moviegoers, pro-life citizens, and everyone else who is fed up with the mainstream media's deceptive antics surrounding this mass murderer and the abortion issue more generally, please push back against blatant journalistic bias and support this movie as much as you possibly can.
