Kermit Gosnell’s name is now forever linked with some of the most despicable murders ever committed in our country’s history. Decades of abuses were covered up. His clinic operated under filthy, disgusting conditions. Women claimed they were forced into abortions. Babies were born alive, and then cruelly murdered. Women died. It was horrific by anyone’s standards. And after a trial, he was convicted, and is now serving three life sentences in a Pennsylvania prison. Yet strangely, he is suing the Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams, along with the Philadelphia Daily News.
Gosnell is claiming that his rights to due process and a fair trial were hindered by “falsities, slander, libel, and defamation” on the part of Williams, and two Daily News reporters. He filed the lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, and is representing himself.
Regarding Williams, Gosnell took issue with the repeated use of the words “baby” or “babies” during the trial, saying that it was an attempt to inflame public opinion, and used his pro-life beliefs to to garner public support. He wrote, “A woman seeking an abortion is plainly not seeking to give birth.” He also claimed that Williams made false statements about his abortion methodology, misrepresenting it as “delivering a live birth and killing the baby.” Considering that this is exactly what Gosnell did — deliver live babies and then snipped their necks using scissors — it’s difficult to see how Gosnell could take issue with that representation.
Gosnell also claims that the Daily News used “malicious sensationalism without regard to truth or factual evidences,” referencing an article that featured a memorial to the babies Gosnell killed. He also took issue with the description of his clinic as a “house of horrors,” saying it was defamatory. But as with his objection to the description of his methodology, it’s hard to see how he can view his clinic as anything but a house of horrors. Patients of Gosnell’s were being infected with sexually-transmitted diseases at his clinic. Flea-infested cats were allowed to roam freely. Patients suffered injuries or death. Unlicensed workers were allowed to perform medical procedures, like giving anesthesia, to patients. He ran an illegal pill mill out of the clinic. And when the FBI finally raided his clinic in 2010, this is what they found:
There is blood on the floor. A stench of urine fills the air. A flea-infested cat wanders through the facility, and there is cat feces on the stairs. Semi-conscious women scheduled for abortions are moaning in the waiting room or the recovery room, where they sit on dirty recliners covered with blood-stained blankets. A row of jars contains the severed feet of fetuses.
And of course, countless babies were murdered after being born alive. Yet Gosnell thinks that it is defamatory to describe his clinic as a “house of horrors”? That’s exactly what it was.
It’s sad that, even after all this time, Gosnell still refuses to take accountability for his own actions. He continuously denies his crimes, or makes excuses for them. He evidently still sees himself as being persecuted, despite the fact that he is not only a murderer, but a serial killer. We can only hope that this district court will see through this ludicrous lawsuit, and throw it out.
