Scroll Left Scroll Right

U.S. Prosecutors: Colo. gunman threatened professor 1 of 9
World Iran: "Rural white" Americans fond of Ahmadinejad 2 of 9
U.S. Minneapolis gunman had just been fired: Police 3 of 9
Gallery Manipulated photography before Photoshop 4 of 9
Sports Regular NFL refs return, get standing ovation 5 of 9
CBS This Morning Beach Boys reuniting for last time? 6 of 9
Politics Voter registration fraud claims singe GOP 7 of 9
Entertainment Another ratings coup for Honey Boo Boo 8 of 9
World Somali militants forced from last stronghold? 9 of 9

January 21, 2011 3:24 PM

Print
Text

Kermit Gosnell, Phila. Abortion Doctor, Seems Confused by Murder Charges, Shocked by No Bail

By: Caroline Black
Topics: Daily Blotter

Kermit Gosnell, Phila. Abortion Doctor, Confused by Murder Charges and Shocked by Denial of Bail

Dr. Kermit Gosnell, File (CBS/KYW)

PHILADELPHIA (CBS/KYW/AP) Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia doctor facing eight counts of murder in the deaths of a female patient and seven babies, appeared confused as he listened to the charges against him at his arraignment Thursday.

Gosnell, who was not represented by an attorney, understood that he was to be charged in the case of a 41-year-old woman who died during an allegedly botched abortion at his offices.

However, the 69-year-old did not seem to understand the other seven counts until he was told that they related to live-birth viable babies that he allegedly killed using scissors, reports CBS affiliate KYW.

"Is it possible you could explain the seven counts?" he asked. "I understand the one count because of the patient who died but not the others."

Gosnell was also caught off guard when District Judge Jane Rice ordered that he be remanded without bail.

"Is there some cause to believe I'm a risk or might flee?" he asked.

Rice explained to Gosnell that there is no bail for murder, and he was facing eight counts of it, reports The Philadelphia News.

State regulators ignored grievances filed against Gosnell, who reportedly made millions of dollars over the past 30 years by performing illegal, late-term abortions, and they failed to visit or inspect his clinic since 1993, District Attorney Seth Williams said.

It wasn't until authorities went to his clinic to investigate drug-related claims that they saw the atrocities, "bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses, jars, lining shelves with severed feet," likened to a "house of horrors" by Williams.

After the raid, Gosnell's medical license was suspended and his clinic, which primarily served poor, immigrant, and minority women, was shut down.

Eight other suspects, as well as the doctor's wife, were arraigned Thursday and face various charges for their alleged knowledge and participation in the clinic's illegal practices.

COMPLETE COVERAGE OF DR. KERMIT GOSNELL ON CRIMESIDER

27 Comments +

Add a Comment

See all 27 Comments


by hc73 April 13, 2013 10:32 AM EDT: Where is Rev.Jesse Jackson and Rev.Al Sharpton? I thought they were all about helping out the Black community.; Reply to this comment


by Wildwood1966 January 24, 2011 4:34 PM EST: cornfused or not - justice needs to take care of him and those who helped him why oh why would he keep the evidence around?????; Reply to this comment

by WomenDeserveBetter January 24, 2011 3:45 PM EST

My previous 4-point comment was supposed to show up under, and as a response to, the comment by delrepublica January 21, 2011 9:44 PM EST

Please see what Partial Birth Abortion is all about. Why is this legal but killing the baby AFTER the head comes out not? We are a sick, sick society to accept & ignore this.

Partial Birth: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/PBA_Images/PBA_Images_Heathers_Place.htm

Dilation & Evacuation: http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/DEabortiongraphic.html

Reply to this comment


by WomenDeserveBetter January 24, 2011 3:49 PM EST: #4 correction: Should have been 1/4-1/3. Sorry.


by delrepublica January 24, 2011 5:22 PM EST: I already just replied to your comments.

I answered your comments on Partial Birth Abortion in #3.

D&E is the primary method of late-term abortions, and is legally permitted. The fetus is already killed by injecting KCl into its heart first, so there is no reason to worry about cruelty when the limbs are surgically removed from the woman's body.


by WomenDeserveBetter January 24, 2011 7:38 PM EST: Right. Injecting something into a living human's heart to kill her before dismembering her not cruelty. Gotcha.... "..when the limbs are surgically removed..." ie: the baby's arms & legs are torn off and removed one at a time. But it's all very humane since she was killed first...

#3 MY OB testified back when they were passing the Federal Law banning PBA. And the reason they allow a "reason" is so there are loopholes so late term abortionists can do their grisly work on perfectly healthy babies for "mental" health reasons. Open your eyes.

by WomenDeserveBetter January 24, 2011 3:30 PM EST

RE: #1 Yet he was allowed by lax laws to do them, in horrifying conditions. The pro-choice people fight every attempt to regulate abortion mills, fighting regulations designed to protect the health & safety of women, and they ignore places like this one. Nail Salons are kept to stricter standards than abortion clinics.

#2 Yes, well, if he was skilled he could have snipped their spinal cords just before the baby's head came out, or dismembered them properly i the womb. Then that would be OK, right? (OPEN YOUR EYES to that thinking!! This abortion procedure, and all procedures, ARE infanticide.)

#3 If a woman is dying, and the baby needs to be removed to save her life, why stop to kill it first? Why take the time to kill it, and why would that be "necessary?" You do know what Partial Birth Abortion is, right? They deliver all but the HEAD of he baby. Then they stab scissors in the skull & suck out the brains, then deliver the baby the rest of the way. MY OB, who has handled thousands of deliveries, testified before congress that there is never a medical reason for a partial birth abortion. NEVER. There is no situation where a woman would die if this was not done. http://www.nrlc.org/abortion/pba/diagram.html

#4 How tragic that we have destroyed 1/3-1/2 of our heritage. The good news is that the pro-life people are reproducing, and raising our children to respect life.

Reply to this comment


by delrepublica January 24, 2011 5:16 PM EST: 1) There's a key difference here. Gosnell's clinic was not licensed to do abortions, and had NO regulations whatsoever. Real legitimate abortion care providers are some of the safest, most regulated health care clinics in the country. Now, if some right-wing state says "Hop on one leg ten times while reciting the alphabet" before providing the abortion, of course we are going to take that up through the courts.

2) Here's a big shock (get ready for this): During emergency late-term abortions (as in, when there's severe fetal abnormalities or the mom's life is at risk) they do EXACTLY that in the late term. And late-term abortions are regulated so they are only done in the extreme cases anyway. I have no problem with it.

3) Partial-birth abortion's already illegal, except for life-threatening cases. Maybe your OB-GYN needs more education on the subject matter. After all, if there is "NEVER a medical reason", why does the Partial Birth Abortion Act allow for one?

4) Yeah, by that reproduction logic, you should be more worried about Shari'a law taking over the world than pro-lifer overpopulation. The zeitgeist has moved forward. You can raise your children however you want, but the culture is becoming more and more individualistic. No guarantee that your indoctrination will work in a free country like the USA.

by finishstrongdoc1111 January 24, 2011 2:35 PM EST

To Danielmountain: Either human life is sacred from the moment of conception till natural death or it is not. Does the life in the womb suddenly become human at your two-month timeline? No. The life suddenly becomes human at the moment of conception. Period. We do not make the laws of nature, but are subject to them. There is a cost to shedding of innocent blood. Gosnell is only now charged with murder because man's unjust and unholy minds gave him the idea that he would be allowed to arbitrarily decide when the life he was capable of taking could end. Moral absolutes exist even in a culture that doesn't believe in them. Either moral absolutes are recognized in our legal system or not. Relativism has no limits. Godly Love limits choice. Godly choice expands happiness. God wants us to be happy. Love God and do what you will.

Reply to this comment


by delrepublica January 24, 2011 5:08 PM EST: 1) Don't bring that 'god' fellow into a rational debate

2) There's nothing 'sacred' about biological science.

3) The womb becomes human when it has sentience (i.e., when it is viable). Other than that, it would be like calling a clump of new tissue, or a drop of someone else's blood a "human".

4) Yes, there are moral absolutes in the US. The law holds that non-viable fetuses do NOT get civil rights. Got it?
Sorry if that contradicts YOUR personal morals, but that's how it is here. If you don't like it, move elsewhere.


by Danielmountain January 24, 2011 12:13 PM EST: Abortions should be legal only within the first couple months of conception, imo.; Reply to this comment

by finishstrongdoc1111 January 23, 2011 8:29 AM EST

delrepubhlica-Last chance. You've been innoculated against hearing the Truth, which is not a someTHING, but a someBODY, Jesus Christ the Lord.Your schooling shows. "Critical Thinking Skills" are taught as part of today's so-called education. CTS is a disease of the mind, introduced purposefully into the brains of our youth by Maciavellian types, who think God is dead, and even if God existed, they would be smarter than God anyway. Atheism is a fear religion that teaches its adherent to hate "God-talk" and "God-talkers". Your ears are broken, and your heart is sick.

For the benefit of others who may be reading this, I suggest if you are curious about Playwhore, Heffnerr, Kinsey, Sanger the radical gay agenda and the conspiracy to destroy the traditional family, I would suggest
YouTubing "The Kinsey Syndrome". After watching that you will have all that you need to see concerning where we were decieved as a nation, and what we are up against if we want to get started on the road to moral recovery . Or not. Free country. For minds that are free.

Here's a quote that expresses MY "agenda". "My country, right or wrong. When right, to be kept right. When wrong to be made right." A few more quotes and then I must go. At the acceptance of the surrender of the Japanese in WWII, General Douglas MacArthur said, "Mankind has has his last chance. Either there will be a recrudescence of the spirit of man, or the flesh of mankind will not be saved." Dr. Viktor Frankl, who survived Auschwitz, developed the Logotherapy method of psychoanalysis, and authored "Man's Search for Meaning", a book that is a kind of therapy for hopelessness, wrote, "Since Auschwitz, we know what mankind is capable of. And since Hiroshima, we know what's at stake." Corrie TenBoom, Holocaust survivor, peace activist, and author of "The Hiding Place", wrote, "There is no place so low that God is not lower still."

Last chance. Gosnell is just the tip of the iceburg. We can go "lower still." Or not. We must choose; it is what sets us apart from animals. God help us all. Peace be with you.

Reply to this comment


by delrepublica January 23, 2011 1:51 PM EST: Jesus Christ? Isn't he the Middle Eastern guy who did us all a great big favor by dying on some tree? Plus, atheism doesn't hate "god" just as it doesn't hate Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny. Finally, where in the Gospels did your Jesus go around preaching non-stop about abortion? He didn't, did he? Or maybe you're one of those types who would kiss the Pope's feet if he ordered you to.

We haven't gotten "lower" at all. Advances in medicine and medical practices have dramatically improved the lives of billions in the post-war era, as diseases such as smallpox and polio have been virtually eradicated. Abortion, along with birth control, is a boon in reproductive choice and women's social freedoms. People are no longer beholden to 14th Century values, and the sooner you accepted this reality, the happier you would be.

by finishstrongdoc1111 January 22, 2011 11:19 PM EST

delrepublica-You must need a lot of help connecting dots, but I'm afraid it may be too much of a task because you appear to me to be willfully ignoring the evil that abortion is and brings. I have a life beyond this typrwriter. Your ad hominem atacks directed towards me are really only hurting you, and for that reason alone I wish you'd stop.

Sperm are not people; we don't put sperm on trial for murdering infants, we try the MAN, sperm and all. Hugh Hefner's Playboy Philosophy is really the philosophy of Margaret Sanger, founder of the Eugenics League and Planned Barrenhood. Sanger was an avowed racist, and Nazi sympathizer. Sanger would be happy to see a black man aborting black babies. It was her fevered dream of a world recreated in a pure favored race of white people that led her to advance her "Negro Project", calling for the sterilization of blacks, or at least with widespread abortion amongst them.

I could go on, but your ears are shut, and it's better you do your own investigation. My conscience is clear. No blood on my hands. I hope you repent, but I suspect those words just burn those ears. Better to lose your ears than have your whole body burn in hell,though." There's no suicide in Hell, though all desire it there. All Desire is in Heaven, and all desire to live there." MPK 1/3/2011

Reply to this comment


by delrepublica January 23, 2011 1:33 AM EST: Sorry, this is a free country, and I can write and say as I please, whether you agree with it or not.

I don't get what the point of your rambling about Margaret Sanger is all about, but women who get abortions are from every race and color there is. The Bhutanese woman who died under Gosnell's callous hands, she wasn't black. And in gross numbers, most women who get abortions in America are white/Caucasian.

Do you have any proof that Hugh Hefner's "Playboy Philosophy" is to "sterilize blacks"? Or is that another baseless comment you got off the top of your head? Show me some proof that Mr. Hefner is a racist, please?

By the way, if you're talking about Nazis and totalitarianism, can you tell me what the abortion policy of Franco, Mussolini, Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, and Ceausescu were?

I thought so :)

Oh, I have no reason to worry about my conscience. It's pretty clear that underdeveloped fetuses can't count as viable human beings that can function on their own at any rate.

Plus, I'm an educated atheist, so please take your repentance mumbo-jumbo elsewhere.

by finishstrongdoc1111 January 22, 2011 7:11 AM EST

First, delrepublica, I am not surprised by the series of outright denials or falsehoods in your post. They are only matched by the official denials of the existence of the shop of horrors by the State of PA. Of course you can say that Gosnell was not an abortionist because the qualifications to BE an abortionist weren't in place, but one lie doesn't cover the other liar. The State and Gosnell were co-operating, in a ghoulish way

Maybe denial HAS to occur, when confronted with such a horror show. But denial in the face of the evidence of murder leads to inaction. Chairman Mao said "If you want to scare the chickens, kill a monkey." It is obvious to me, delrepublica, your responses indicate you are in an outright "frozen in the headlights' type mental state. If this were a scene in a "B" movie, the hero would have to slap you out of it.

To continue the comparison, the villian always depends on fear to create denial and inaction. Don't let fear and denial cause you to lash out at the ones who are coming to the rescue you from the ghouls.

President Obama, or anyone who co-operates with the evil of abortion, are either fear-mongers or cowards. Nothing to be alarmed about, just a matter of bad education and poor moral upbringing. He's not the hero type, in my book, nor is Herrr Hefnerrr, whose Playwhore Philosophy harmonizes with Mr. Obama's actions as a legislator and President. Abortion is the "final solution" and enabler of the Playwhore Philosophy.

Abortion is infanticide, btw, it's just that we haven't been thinking of it "officially" as infanticide for so long that we've forgotten that it really IS infanticide. Sort of like the Stockholm Syndrome, where one thinks of the jailers as the rescuers, one thinks of those who kill as those who are saving. It's confusing, I know, but it happens to nice people all the time. Trust your gut. These guys aren't really helping.

Reply to this comment


by delrepublica January 22, 2011 7:14 PM EST: 90% of this reply was rambling about Mao Zedong and "Herr Hefner" and ghouls, which really made no sense to me.

All I can say is that he wasn't an abortion doctor, since he wasn't licensed to do them. Performing them illegally does not give him the certification to be an abortion-care provider.

Furthermore, abortion is a constitutionally-held civil right in the United States. If you don't like it, go take foreign citizenship in Chile, Malta, the Philippines, or a host of countries where there are no abortions, and go live there.

And no, it's not infanticide, because it's not an infant.
Should we give civil rights to other objects without bones, organs, and autonomous viability too?
Why stop there? Why not make it a crime to eject sperm too? Criminalize that as murder?

I have guts; you need a brain.

by finishstrongdoc1111 January 22, 2011 7:07 AM EST

Reply to this comment


by Wildwood1966 January 24, 2011 4:33 PM EST: delrepublica needs to worry about his own soul - the garbage that is coming out of his mouth will certainly put him on a journey and soon - "Jesus was in the Middle East hung on a tree" ????????????????

See all 27 Comments

Popular Now in Crime

recommended

Follow Crimesider

Most Popular on CBS News

Stories More »

Videos More »

6 Photos | View Gallery »
"Kai the Hatchet-Wielding Hitchhiker" arrested in NJ murder
9 Photos | View Gallery »
Inside the analyst's office
5 Photos | View Gallery »
Facebook's first year on Wall Street
12 Photos | View Gallery »
Jodi Arias close up
21 Photos | View Gallery »
Photos of the Week

Scroll Left

Scroll Right More »

48 Hours 48 Hours for iPad^® A perfect companion to TV's most popular true-crime series.

CBS News on Facebook

Kermit Gosnell, Phila. Abortion Doctor, Seems Confused by Murder Charges, Shocked by No Bail

Report offensive content:

E-mail this comment to a friend.

Follow Crimesider

48 Hours iPad App