When you “look away,” you leave unborn babies and their mothers to the tender mercies of murderers like abortionist Kermit Gosnell

By Dave Andrusko

Christine Flowers is a tremendously gifted writer on a whole slew of issues but (my bias is showing) none more than abortion.

Having written probably 30 stories of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, you would think I would recall that it was ten years ago that “the trial of one of the most prolific serial killers in American history began,” Flowers writes. “On March 18, 2013, Dr. Kermit Gosnell was prosecuted in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for crimes against humanity, including the deliberate killing of full-term babies delivered at his clinic in West Philadelphia.”

Gosnell was eventually convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. “In addition to the babies, Gosnell killed at least two women, including Kamamaya Mangor and Semika Shaw,” Flowers writes. “He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Mangor, and while he was never held criminally responsible in Shaw’s death even though he had perforated her uterus while performing the abortion-her fifth, the woman’s family received a civil settlement.”

We—and that includes me—can never, ever forget:

The tragic saga of Kermit Gosnell is one that we would do well to remember, ten years on.  Many factors contributed to his ability to operate unimpeded for over two decades, preying on vulnerable women and disposing of children as if they were trash.  In fact, when investigators finally raided his premises, they found dozens if not hundreds of aborted fetuses stored in jars like ghoulish containers of preserves.  The man had no concern for human life and dignity, despite his defense that he was providing a service for the poorest of the poor in his community.  His practice had more to do with Sweeney Todd, the bloody butcher of London’s Fleet Street than any social service enterprise.

If you read even a portion of the 281 page report of the special Grand Jury, you would nod your head in vigorous agreement with Flowers that

Gosnell could not have done what he did without the assistance of powerful people.  One man cannot operate unimpeded and under the radar for almost a quarter of a century without the deliberate cooperation of those in positions of authority, the gatekeepers who are appointed to ensure the safety of the people in this commonwealth.

Those powerful people included pro-abortion Gov. Tom Ridge, the state Department of Health, local medical authorities, the media, and the pro-abortion industry which by avoiding Gosnell assured themselves of plausible deniability.

Here is the opening paragraph of the special Grand Jury’s report:

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 by severing their spinal cords with scissors. 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. Over the years, many people came to know that something was going on here.

But no one put a stop to it.

The headline to Flowers’ column was “Pennsylvania’s Silent Serial Killer: What happens when you look away.” When you look away, you leave unborn babies and their mothers to the tender mercies of murderers like Kermit Gosnell.