Phelim McAleer: The case of evil Kermit Gosnell showed how abortion is sacred to American progressives
It's unfashionable to talk about evil these days. We are supposed to believe there is no evil, just misguided people who are driven astray by society, capitalism, or racism or some other fashionable phobia.
However the reality is that some people are bad because they enjoy it. I know evil exists and so this week I can say, without doubt, that America has just become a little less evil.
On Sunday I heard that Kermit Gosnell, an abortion doctor who is thought to have murdered thousands of babies in a 30-year killing spree, had died in prison.
I know Gosnell well. I covered his trial in Philadelphia, interviewed him in prison and had dozens of jailhouse phone calls whilst researching the book, podcast and movie I produced about his life and crimes.
Gosnell was convicted in 2013 for murdering three infants born alive during illegal late-term abortions and who he then killed by having their spinal cords severed with scissors.
Gosnell was also found guilty of killing 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, a refugee from Bhutan who died from a lethal overdose of anaesthesia, administered by unlicensed staff in his abortion clinic. She died in a house of horrors where cats walked the corridors and lifesaving equipment was broken, severely rusted or just non-existent.
In Gosnell’s 30 years of running his filthy abortion clinic, he probably murdered thousands of babies born alive. In America, a Grand Jury of citizens examines the evidence and decides what charges you face at trial. The Grand Jury which investigated Gosnell wanted to charge him with 200 recent baby murders but the move was stymied and reduced to just seven after pressure from senior political and law enforcement officials. They did not want their homicide numbers to spike in an era where they were boasting of falling crime and murder statistics.
When I met Gosnell in prison, along with my wife who was co-producer on the projects, it was clear he was a chilling monster who could sometimes come across as charming. He was mostly cheery and liked to portray himself as affable, a humanitarian even, but the mask slipped when he was challenged or caught in a lie.
And he lied a lot.
He also was very, very creepy and wasted no opportunity to “accidentally” and frequently touch my wife's leg as we interviewed him in the grim visiting room of his maximum security prison.
Whilst protesting his innocence, Gosnell would often smile and smirk as he defended the death and destruction at his clinic. His murders bore many of the hallmarks of a serial killer. Gosnell's staff said he seemed to enjoy killing the babies. And he even kept trophies of his victims. Investigators who raided his clinic found the remains of 47 babies in his freezer, some stored in empty orange juice cartons or old cat food containers. They also found severed and preserved baby feet in jars, labelled and stored.
Gosnell’s life and crimes tell us a lot about modern America.
His case became a major news story after the US mainstream media failed to cover the trial. Conservatives claimed the story was being censored and the name Gosnell trended on Twitter for weeks before media organisations were shamed and forced to turn up at the courthouse. Several liberal journalists admitted they had been reluctant to write about the case because they were reluctant to shine a negative light on abortion.
Gosnell’s case also showed how abortion is sacred to America’s progressives.
The Grand Jury investigation into Gosnell revealed how his killing spree could have been stopped on multiple occasions, particularly after the death of a young black woman, in 2000. But nothing happened.
According to the Grand Jury report, numerous incidents were ignored by Department of Health bureaucrats because of pressure from governor Tom Ridge, a rare pro-abortion Republican. He was keen to tout his “pro-choice” credentials in swing-state Pennsylvania. This was before the rise of Donald Trump when weak and stupid politicians believed they needed to be pro-abortion to get elected.
The Grand Jury report described the bureaucratic inaction as a “live and let die policy”.
“With…..governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions. Better to leave clinics to do as they pleased, even though, as Gosnell proved, that meant both women and babies would pay,” the report stated.
Gosnell provided abortions in a minority area. And so most of the people he killed and mutilated were black and brown. This probably contributed to the blind eye that was cast on his activities. It seems that when American liberals want to protect abortion Black Lives don’t really Matter.
l Phelim McAleer is a Co Tyrone born journalist living in Los Angeles