Gosnell abortion trial repulsing even veteran journalists

The trial of abortion doctor, Kermit Gosnell continues to repulse even the most hardened and experienced journalists. Stories of babies born alive and subsequently murdered by untrained nurses are gruesome in the extreme and profoundly heartbreaking. Worse, Gosnell even encouraged women to pursue abortions in their last trimesters.

PHILADELPHIA, PA (Catholic Online) - The Philadelphia District Attorney has described the abortion mill of Kermit Gosnell as "a house of horrors." Gosnell came to public attention when a woman he clinically mutilated died following a botched painkiller injection.

The resulting investigation uncovered a gruesome scene that was decades in the making.

Gosnell began performing abortions in the 1970s. He made his living murdering babies, particularly those born to minority and poor women in West Philadelphia.

According to testimony offered by witnesses, Gosnell hired poorly-paid, untrained women to assist in his clinic. Gosnell often tasked these assistants with murdering babies that were born alive. In at least one case, a child was murdered over a toilet with scissors. The assistant claimed she had no idea she was doing something wrong.

In another case, Gosnell joked that the baby he was murdering was large enough to walk himself to the bus stop.

According to the grand jury, "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. ... 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."

Read the Original Grand Jury report here. [WARING: GRAPHIC CONTENT]

The details of the testimony are so gruesome that even experienced reporters are reeling from the case.

The Philadelphia Inquirer's Joseph Slobodzian, who has sat through every day of the trial, was quoted by CNN as saying, "I certainly don't hope I cover a trial like this again."

Even veteran staff at Catholic Online dread reading the updates and transcripts from the trial, which is extraordinarily repulsive.

Perhaps the most haunting line of testimony came from a National Abortion Federation official who visited the clinic. She told the court "It was the worst clinic I have ever seen." Still, she did not report the operation to the authorities.

Note her use of the word, "worst." What's haunting is her word choice implies there are similar mills of horror around the nation, just none so bad as Gosnell's, whatever that is worth.

Other women testify that Gosnell lied, telling them it was safe to get repeated abortions. Some women had over half-a-dozen abortions performed by Gosnell, using his services as a form of birth control.

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If Gosnell is convicted, it is hoped he will receive a strong sentence from the court to dissuade others from following similar practices. More importantly, it is hoped his conviction might inspire life-saving legislation that will protect both mothers and their precious children from the seductive lies told by the purveyors of death, who are neither friends of women, nor human rights.

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