This happened in Pennsylvania.
A filthy abortion mill where prosecutors say babies were delivered alive and killed with scissors would have been shut down long ago if not for extraordinary failures by state regulators, who had not inspected it since 1993, a grand jury report charges.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, a family practice physician with no certification in gynecology or obstetrics, was charged Wednesday with eight counts of murder in the deaths of seven babies and one patient. Nine employees also were charged, including four with murder.
It is a grand jury report, horribly detailed, but here are the main points:
The guy, besides being uncertified, was preying on poor women and making a bundle off them, while killing and maiming some. He had unqualified staff, including a 15-year-old high school student administering intravenous anesthesia.
He'd lie to women about how far along they were, knock them out, induce labour, then kill the fetuses. He kept some body parts in jars.
And it would not have happened if the state had done its job of inspection and regulation.
The state health department first gave the "Women's Medical Society" a one-year license when it opened in 1979, when a certified obstetrician/gynecologist and nurses were listed as employees. The state approval expired in 1980, but the next site review did not come until 1989.
By then, Gosnell was the only doctor on site, and the clinic had no nurses and no outside lab work being done. Promises were made to improve the failings, and the state renewed its approval. In 1992, a visit showed there were still no nurses or ob-gyn, and nothing suggests the state inspectors checked any patient files. The inspectors left blank the sections on who was providing anesthesia and post-operative care. They they concluded there were "no deficiencies."
The final inspection came in April 1993, four years after Gosnell had promised to hire nurses. There were none. The state cited Gosnell for expired medications and missing lab work but said they had been remedied — though there was no follow-up inspection — three months later.
So, of course, the fetus fetishists are revelling in the gore. P.Z. Myers says he got a whack of 'triumphalist' emails about the story.
But anyone with more than one functioning neuron can see: This situation makes the strongest possible case for legal -- and properly supervised and regulated -- abortion.
This, in fact, is how it used to be in the bad old days. Yes, some abortion providers were caring, qualified professionals risking their licenses and freedom to help. Others, though, were unscrupulous and predatory quacks as this guy is made out to be.
And not just a little weird to boot, from the report.
He'll become the fetus-fetishist poster boy for 'Late Term Abortion! Gosnell! Gosnell! SHRIEEEEEK!!!1!1'
Just checked. Yup, they're aaaall over it.
Kermit Gosnell: Hero of the Forced Pregnancy Gang.
16 comments:
Well, well...so much for conservative talk about how the "market" will regulate everything, eh? Those all-powerful "market forces" did NOTHING to stop this. That's because Gosnell knew that his "market" was a captive one: young, female, without means, scared. Of course, scared pregnant young women don't talk much amongst themselves, other than a few whispers in the lobby--where they're often too scared and intimidated by the clinical surroundings to say a whole lot anyway. What are the odds that they'd discuss this doctor and whether they really felt comfortable going to him?
And of course, there didn't seem to be any women's networks after the fact, either, to spread the word about what this doctor was doing wrong and prevent others from going to him. All there is is the usual far-right "don't kill your baby or we'll guilt-trip you for life" crowd!
Epic market fail...desperate need of government regulation (NOT an abortion ban!) and intervention. This is all horrendous, but it's what you get when you combine abstinence-only with market values and laws against abortion. Conservative values fail all around.
That Gosnell was never reported to his state medical association is a disgrace. Can you imagine a dentist being allowed to practice dentistry in this manner?
I blame abortion-criminalizers and their terrorist actions; their ongoing violence directed towards women seeking legal abortions creates an environment of fear that allows malpractitioners like Gosnell to exist.
Oh, me too...me too. I blame conservatism on the whole, since it allows things like this to fester. Poor regulation of medical practitioners on the one hand; criminalization of what ought to be a perfectly legal procedure on the other. And the same people who squawk about "tyranny" every time somebody says something about regulating businesses then turn around and tell public schools they should only teach girls to fear God and keep their legs shut. It's a perfect recipe for disaster.
And hell, the lowliest veterinarian would be better regulated than this guy was.
Excellent points, both of you.
But Bina, don't dis veterinarians. Some of our best friends are vets. ;-)
Excellent report in Time.
Wow. Actual journalism from Time? You're right, dBO, excellent.
Well, there you have it: a real live "back alley abortionist".
This is the culmination of all those picky little anti-choice initiatives: "fetal pain" and "personhood" bills, limits on types of procedures and when they can be done, harassment and intimidation of women at clinics and everything else that makes abortion care more inaccessible (including doctors being assassinated).
The fetus fetishists must be very proud of themselves. Without even overturning RvW, they've made abortion dangerous again.
Of course, sluts deserve nothing more.
Oh, I wasn't dissing vets...I have kitties, you know. I just find it appalling that women's physicians are held in lower regard. This makes me sick!
Just imagine the shriEEEk Blob Blogging Wingnut will spin out of this story.
Those CAPS are going to get a MASSIVE workout, uh-uh.
You called it, dBO, SHE is having orgasms. Someone should take that woman to a mental health facility.
(That's a Twitter status update link. We'll see if it's immune to fetal pr0n redirect.)
What a sicko. She does a post about this guy that meticulously lists all his crimes against feti, but nothing about the women who died.
It reminds me of that time a couple of years ago when she posted about that story out of Iran, where a pregnant woman was shot to death. Numbnuts posted than "an unborn child" was killed by the Iranian government, without mentioning one minor detail: the woman carrying it was shot & killed also. If you read her post without clicking through and reading the full story at the link, you wouldn't even know that anyone other than a fetus had been killed.
And now this. Very telling, these omissions.
*sigh* I miss blogging. I would just love to eviscerate this shit. But you grrlz have got it covered! ;)
You can post anything you want, via our comments space, JJ. That's how MASSIVELY much we miss you.
Hell, I'll go further than that (if dBO doesn't mind, that is) -- we'll lend you the keys to the castle if you want to guest-blog on something that gets you riled up.
Though I've still got my fingers crossed for some event so up-riling that UOH is reborn in some way. ;-)
Aw, how sweet! ♥ ♥
I may just take you up on that kind offer, as I'm becoming increasingly fired up without any way to blow off steam... It wouldn't require the keys to the blog, though. If I break down & write something and I think it might be a good fit on DJ, I could just email it to you.
That really is sweet of you guys. It's nice to know there's an outlet where I can vent some of my hostilities before my head spins off and bursts into flames.
Nonononono. Your head must stay where it is.
Well, maybe in a slightly brighter place, but definitely no spinning off. Nix to flames also.
I hear what you're saying and agree there's a "desperate need of government regulation" and enforcement. And the Gosnell's of the world should not get away with this kind of thing.
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