The Sins Of Kermit Gosnell

Here's a question making the rounds: is there enough media coverage of Kermit Gosnell, the physician charged with murdering babies in an abortion clinic? The answer is no (though as Salon's Irin Carmon notes there was much coverage when the story first broke in 2011). And we need to do everything in our power to make sure that women have access to safe and professional clinics - unlike Gosnell's - that the GOP and their allies are trying to shut down.

Ari Rabin-Havt writes:

Kermit Gosnell, currently on trial for murder, appears to be a monster. There are no adjectives strong enough to describe the horrors that a grand jury says took place at the Women's Medical Society...

The Women's Medical Society's "real business," the grand jury report explicitly states, "was not health; it was profit. There were two primary parts to the operation. By day it was a prescription mill; by night an abortion mill."

To achieve his ends, "Gosnell's approach was simple: keep volume high, expenses low - and break the law. That was his competitive edge."

Conservatives are making the argument that "the reason the media and pro-abortion politicians are ignoring Gosnell's trial is because Gosnell was an abortionist. Seven of his victims were killed after they had been aborted, and one died after she had aborted. Why would people who believe in legalized abortion want to shed negative light on bad things that happen during legalized abortions?"

But these were crimes, not "bad things that happened" within legal structures. What the grand jury established is that Gosnell preyed on poor women, performing illegal abortions in unsanitary conditions. Those on the right have spent ample pixels reciting all the abhorrent practice, but have failed to note the critical component - that the actions they cite are illegal.

Every bit of evidence points to this man's guilt. 

What would make the stituation worse? Forcing women back into the allies and dark rooms of pre-Roe vs. Wade where medical care was not safe or accessible.  That is exactly what the GOP wants:

During the first three months of 2013, legislators in 14 states introduced provisions seeking to ban abortion prior to viability. These bans fall into three categories: measures that would prohibit all abortions, those that would ban abortions after a specified point during the first trimester of pregnancy and those that would block abortions at 20 weeks after fertilization (the equivalent of 22 weeks after the woman’s last menstrual period, the conventional method physicians use to measure pregnancy). All of these proposals are in direct violation of U.S. Supreme Court decisions.

Legislators in 10 states have introduced proposals that would ban all, or nearly all, abortions. In eight states (AL, IA, MS, ND, OK, SC, VA and WA), legislators have proposed defining “personhood” as beginning at conception; if adopted, these measures would ban most, if not all, abortions.

Kermit Gosnell does appear to be a monster, a criminal.

We need to make sure the GOP does not create a market for more people like Kermit Gosnell to take advantage of women seeking professional care.

At the same time, we need to continue to work together - whatever our views on abortion - to reduce the need for abortion by making comprehensive sex education available, by expanding the availability and affordability of contraception, and by expanding funding that support mothers and families that decide to keep children (along with adoption programs).  No one should be forced into deciding to have an abortion because of financial considerations.      

The General Synod of the United Church of Christ has long maintained that:

Whereas, women and men must make decisions about unplanned or unwanted pregnancies that involve their physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being; and …Whereas, abortion is a social justice issue, both for parents dealing with pregnancy and parenting under highly stressed circumstances, as well as for our society as a whole; …

Therefore, be it resolved, that the Sixteenth General Synod:

• affirms the sacredness of all life, and the need to protect and defend human life in particular;


• encourages persons facing unplanned pregnancies to consider giving birth and parenting the child, or releasing the child for adoption, before abortion;


• upholds the right of men and women to have access to adequately funded family planning services, and to safe, legal abortions as one option among others;


• urges the United Church of Christ, at all levels, to provide educational resources and programs to persons, especially young persons, to help reduce the incidence of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies, and to encourage responsible approaches to sexual behavior.

These are the principles that should guide our thinking in this difficult area.