Gosnell trial raises issues of media, abortion

Although the jury has yet to return its verdict, the trial of Kermit Gosnell has recently garnered attention from the national media and supporters from both sides of the pro-life, pro-choice divide.

Since April 30, 12 jurors have been deliberating the charges against Gosnell and his co-defendant Eileen O’Neill for the crimes they allegedly committed while working at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society, a late-term abortion clinic.

Although Gosnell was originally charged with eight counts of murder — seven for murdering babies and one for the death of a patient, Karnamaya Mongar — three of these charges were dismissed on April 23 after a motion was filed by Gosnell’s defense attorney. If found guilty of any of the babies’ murders, Gosnell could receive the death penalty.

Gosnell still faces an additional 227 counts of performing abortions without giving a mandated 24-hour waiting period to the mother and 24 counts of performing abortions past Pennsylvania’s legal limit of 24 weeks into gestation. O’Neill faces charges of conspiracy and theft by deception.

Gosnell’s trial has received coverage from many national media outlets, including The New York Times, CNN and The Philadelphia Inquirer. It has also received attention from organizations like Priests for Life, whoisgosnell.com and students on Penn’s campus, and has added fuel to the abortion debate.

Lack of coverage

While several news outlets maintained coverage of the Gosnell trial, activists across the country were upset by the fact that the trial was not receiving enough attention, in their opinions, from both the media and from ordinary citizens.

On April 12, an opinion column in The Washington Post called for news outlets to act because “the mainstream media are noticeably absent from the Philadelphia mass murder trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell.”

The same day, Youth Outreach Director for Priests for Life Bryan Kemper organized a “#gosnell” Twitter campaign about Gosnell’s trial, in order to raise awareness through social media about what was going on.

“A friend of mine suggested that I do something to bring attention [to the trial],” Kemper said. The campaign turned out to be the “perfect storm,” he added, noting that there were over 600,000 tweets that led to a “huge increase in media [presence]” as national news outlets began more extensive coverage of Gosnell’s trial.

At Penn, the event “Awareness Campaign for Gosnell Murder Trial” was also organized to spread information about the trial.

College senior Simcha Katsnelson, a student who helped organize the April 23 event, noted at the time that “people on campus need to be aware of what’s going on” in Gosnell’s trial, since it has not been “getting enough coverage in the media.”

‘House of horrors’

In her opening statement, Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore called Gosnell’s clinic at 3801 Lancaster Avenue — only blocks away from Penn’s campus — a “house of horrors” where Gosnell and his staff routinely “snipped” the spinal cords of newborn babies.

Throughout the trial, the prosecution presented a total of 34 witnesses to testify about Gosnell’s practice.

Steven Massof, an unlicensed doctor employed by Gosnell who pleaded guilty to murder in the third degree, told the jury how he was taught to “snip” the necks of babies after the abortion procedure, the Inquirer reported.

Ashley Baldwin, who worked for Gosnell while she was a student at University City High School, said that she saw at least five aborted babies move and breathe, according to the Inquirer.

Toxicologist Timothy Rohrig testified about the patient Mongar’s death, noting that the level of Demerol — a drug used to relieve pain — in Mongar’s system shortly after her death indicated that she was given “probably a lot more” than 150 milligrams of the drug, which was the amount listed in Gosnell’s records. According to the Grand Jury report, Mongar died at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania.

However, Gosnell’s attorney Jack McMahon attempted to poke holes in the prosecution’s case, arguing that the babies were not alive outside of the mother’s womb.

Referring to Baby Boy A, McMahon said that the baby could not have been alive because the mother was injected with Digoxin — a drug used to kill fetuses in the womb — the Inquirer reported.

McMahon also argued that any fetus movement testified about was involuntary, according to the Inquirer, and that Mongar died through an accidental and unforeseeable drug reaction.

Gosnell and abortion

For some who have attended the trial, this case represents more than just the murders Gosnell is accused of having committed.

Pescatore, the assistant district attorney, made it clear during her opening statement that “this is not a case about abortion,” but rather about the murder of seven babies and one woman. Kemper, who was in court the day that Judge Jeffrey Minehart dismissed three murder charges and five abuse of corpse charges against Gosnell, said that “this case can help establish the personhood of a child in the womb.”

“Finally, an abortionist is being exposed for what they do,” Kemper said. “If we can show the realities of abortion, it will bring us closer to abolishing it.”

For Director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life Alveda King, who is the daughter of A.D. King and niece of Martin Luther King Jr., Gosnell’s case is only “the tip of the iceberg.”

“Gosnell is not the exception to abuse in the abortion industry,” King said. “He is evidence — proof of the rule.”

However, Executive Director of the Women’s Law Project Carol Tracy, who is also a lecturer for the Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies program at Penn, said that Gosnell’s case is a “reminder of what abortion is like when it is illegal.”

“There will always be people who operate outside the law,” Tracy added. “If these extreme right-wing activists overturn Roe [v. Wade, Gosnell’s clinic] represents the future of abortion for women.”

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