Is anyone following the Kermit Gosnell trial?

[B2G]

I haven't seen it discussed here. How did he get away with this for so long? It's beyond me...

[DonViejo]

1. I made a couple of OP's...

last night but, no one commented on them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022663699

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022663683

[Buzz Clik]

2. It has been discussed:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022660672
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1152608
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022663699
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022533286


etc...

[B2G]

4. Thanks...very few responses

Guess that's why I missed them.

[JaneyVee]

3. The guy is a monster of epic proportions.

[B2G]

5. He treated mostly poor women of color

If he was doing this to rich white women, it would be all over the news.

He got away with this for so long exactly because of who he victimized.

[JaneyVee]

8. The clinic treated white women as well.

[PeaceNikki]

10. Yes, but differently...

http://jezebel.com/why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-horrifying-gosnell-aborti-472647762?utm_source=nar.al&utm_medium=urlshortener&utm_campaign=FB

From an interview with Tina Baldwin, a 15-year-old intern at the clinic:

Like if a girl - the black population was - African population was big here. So he didn't mind you medicating your African American girls, your Indian girl, but if you had a white girl from the suburbs, oh, you better not medicate her. You better wait until he go in and talk to her first. And one day I said something to him and he was like, that's the way of the world. Huh?

And he brushed it off and that was it.

Abortion providers and patients are also marginalized, which is almost surely another reason why this story flew relatively under the radar until recently. The Atlantic expands on this point:

For this isn't solely a story about babies having their heads severed, though it is that. It is also a story about a place where, according to the grand jury, women were sent to give birth into toilets; where a doctor casually spread gonorrhea and chlamydiae to unsuspecting women through the reuse of cheap, disposable instruments; an office where a 15-year-old administered anesthesia; an office where former workers admit to playing games when giving patients powerful narcotics; an office where white women were attended to by a doctor and black women were pawned off on clueless untrained staffers. Any single one of those things would itself make for a blockbuster news story. Is it even conceivable that an optometrist who attended to his white patients in a clean office while an intern took care of the black patients in a filthy room wouldn't make national headlines?

[JaneyVee]

14. This is a terrible story all around.

[PeaceNikki]

17. it is. and is a testament to why safe access to abortions is vital.

For all women.

[JaneyVee]

19. Great point.

[southernyankeebelle]

6. I have seen some stuff on it. There is something sick about this guy on the way he

did abortions. I think it was awful.

[ewagner]

7. Only read a little bit of it...

frankly, it is almost too gruesome to discuss...and hard to even wrap your mind around.

the age-old story: "man's inhumanity to man" or, in this case women.

[PeaceNikki]

9. There is a thread about it over in the Pro Choice group

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1152608

[B2G]

11. Not much of one

But thanks.

[PeaceNikki]

12. You're anti-choice? Weird because Gosnell is what happens when it's next-to-impossible

for women in low-income areas to get a legal abortion.

[B2G]

15. I am absolutely pro-choice

and these were not LEGAL abortions. This guy had been reported to the authorities for years, caused the deaths of at least 2 woman, maimed countless others and outright killed viable infants after their births. Other doctors referred women to him. This was not a back alley operation. He practiced openly and the state was well away of his operation. Yet they chose to do nothing. For 20 years.

This isn't about abortion. It's about preying on low income minority women and having the state turn a blind eye to it.

[PeaceNikki]

18. exactly. read the article in the link I posted.

[B2G]

20. I did

And I fail to see how anything I posted led you to believe I'm not pro choice.

What this man did goes far beyond abortion to the realm of torture and murder. The lack of media coverage astounds me frankly.

[PeaceNikki]

21. my apologies but when I invited you to the thread in the pro-choice group

you replied "not much of one". I read that to mean that you weren't pro choice. now I see what you meant. so you can see how I might have made that mistake.

[B2G]

22. Sorry, didn't mean to sound like I was blowing off that thread

Peace.

[polly7]

13. I'd never heard of this case.

So horrific it's almost unbelievable. How the hell could he get away with it for so long? I've been against the DP all my life, but after reading the report linked to by rug here http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022660672#post1 I'd volunteer to do it myself. At the very least ... I'll clap when it happens.

[B2G]

16. Here's the complete Grand Jury report...

Warning: it's sickening.

http://www.phila.gov/districtattorney/pdfs/grandjurywomensmedical.pdf

[Pterodactyl]

23. The state government fell down on the job on inspections.