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Senseless Murder, Silent Media: Thoughts on the Gosnell Trial

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From the desk of Kelly:

Imagine this: a medical facility dirty, bloodied, and littered with jars and containers full of human body parts. No, this isn’t the opening scene of a horror movie. This is what was found in the Philadelphia abortion clinic run by Kermit Gosnell. This past week, Dr. Gosnell has been on trial for the murder of Karnamaya Mongar, whose suspicious death led to the raid of his clinic in 2010. This is not the first time, though, that Gosnell has found himself entangled with law enforcement. Dating back as early as the late ‘80s, Gosnell has been cited for lack of proper nursing staff and personnel, unsanitary conditions, and several examples of subpar, if not downright deplorable, medical practice. The Grand Jury report, dated January 2011, details Gosnell’s “house of horrors”:

“[H]e 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.”

If this is all news to you, don’t feel too bad, because most of the mainstream media has failed to offer this story any airtime. Regardless of your views on abortion, I find it hard to believe that anyone can justify the murder of a child after they have already been born. So why, then, have we not been hearing from panel after panel on this atrocity? Why isn’t this a front page story getting just as much, if not more, press than, say, the Casey Anthony trial, or the Jodi Arias trial? Is the gruesome murder of a newborn baby not outrageous to people? Or maybe it’s just that it can’t be used as a political talking point since those that parade tragedies around like campaign slogans don’t agree with the pro-life agenda. Instead, though, they’ll exploit the families of the Newtown tragedy and use them as political pawns in their fight to shred the 2nd Amendment. I find this to be disrespectful, and to call it self-serving would be an understatement.

In running his abhorrent clinic, Dr. Gosnell hid under the guise of helping the “underserved” by focusing on the poor and minorities, but it was all a farce. Even the members of his staff were a sham – individuals referred to as “doctors” had graduated from medical school, yet were not licensed physicians. He also had no nurses on staff and several essential pieces of medical equipment were not in working condition. Reading through the Grand Jury report, I found myself appalled and actually downright nauseated over the details surrounding this case – the nineteen-year-old female who was left bleeding on the table and later needed a hysterectomy to save her from the damage incurred from the botched abortion; the woman who suffered from a serious infection and was released on the brink of death. And these are just the ones we know about. And by “we,” I mean those of us who have done some digging on our own on this hellish story. Kirsten Powers, columnist and political analyst, summed it up perfectly:

“Let me state the obvious. This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. The venerable NBC Nightly News’ Brian Williams intoned, ‘A firestorm of outrage from women after a crude tirade from Rush Limbaugh,’ as he teased a segment on the brouhaha. Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn’t make the cut.”

From a medical standpoint, I can’t help but think back to the few weeks I spent in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) while I was a student. The doctors, nurses, and medical staff went above and beyond, taking the most extensive of measures, to sustain the lives of these newborn, most times premature, babies. Some of these infants were younger than the babies that are killed during abortions. It begs the question: what is the difference between these lives, which we are going through heroic measures to sustain, and the lives of those babies who still live in the womb? Where is the defense for these lives? While we’re mourning the deaths of children killed by deranged psychopaths, where is the outcry for the innocent children who have not yet had the chance to see the light of day? I am in no way trying to make light of other tragedies involving children. In fact, I argue the opposite. Life is a precious gift and who is more innocent than a baby not yet born? Do they not deserve the same rights of protection? I recently stumbled upon an opinion piece in which the author attempted to make light of abortion. The author reasoned that the alternative to abortion, having a baby, may not fit into someone’s plan and therefore may be life-ruining. In fact, she likened becoming pregnant to getting sunburned while at the beach – it’s just what happened that week, as the result of some careless choices. Indeed, having unprotected sex and becoming pregnant would qualify as a “careless choice,” but with every choice and action comes a reaction, i.e. a consequence. Killing an unborn child does not sound like the most reasonable of options. Making light of ending human life is insensitive and callous. Furthermore, perhaps we, as a society, should stop rewarding a culture of carelessness. Maybe then people would think a little more carefully about their actions. Obviously mistakes happen and there are times when people find themselves in unwanted circumstances, but abortion isn’t the only option. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported that 2.6 million women ages 18-44 had seriously considered adoption and taken “concrete steps toward adoption.”  There are other options after conception and, unfortunately, we don’t seem to be doing a good job of advocating and educating about them.

It’s baffling that the content and circumstances of the Gosnell case have not skyrocketed it to national headline status. In a society where we advocate for “equal rights” for all, we are leaving out a crucial group. In refusing to acknowledge the reprehensible actions performed by this man and his cohorts, we are turning a blind eye to medical malpractice, illegal use of prescription drugs, and, most importantly, murder. The babies are not the only victims. A multitude of women came into that clinic and received grossly negligent care only to leave with infections, diseases, or worse, as in the case of Karnamaya Mongar, death. If that doesn’t deserve news coverage, I don’t know what does. It’s a sad day for our society when we’re more concerned with who’s allowed to marry than who’s allowed to live.  People are free to disagree with me on the latter issue if they wish; my only hope is that the heartbreaking consequences of abortion can at least have a place at the discussion table.


Filed under: Current Events, K Tagged: 2nd Amendment, Abortion, abortion clinic, Adoption, babies, Brian Williams, Casey Anthony, Children, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, Equal Rights, equality, Grand Jury report, Jodi Arias, Karnamaya Mongar, Kirsten Powers, mainstream media, media coverage, Medicine, murder trial, NBC, neonatal, news, NICU, partial birth abortion, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Politics, Pro-Choice, Pro-Life, Rush Limbaugh, Sandra Fluke, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, unborn child, Women, Women's Rights

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