Jezebel has an excellent piece posted on the Gosnell case

[cali]

Why We Need to Talk About the Horrifying Gosnell Abortion Trial

Philadelphia abortion provider Dr. Kermit Gosnell is accused of running a clinic straight out of the Saw horror franchise: standard practices allegedly included snipping the spines of live newborns with rusty equipment, storing feces in cat-food containers and fetus feet in jars, and overdosing patients, particularly those who were poor women of color. Make no mistake: if these charges are correct, Gosnell is a monster. But his business was able to thrive because of limited access to reproductive choice, not because of reproductive choice itself.

<snip?

Anti-abortion advocates, naturally, are thrilled that Gosnell is on trial. Horrified along with the rest of us, but thrilled at a chance to argue that this case illustrates how unspeakably disgusting abortion is using the most visceral evidence imaginable. "This is not about being 'pro-choice' or 'pro-life,'" Kristen Powers argues in a USA Today op-ed that seems to have drawn significant national attention to the case for the first time since Gosnell's "Women's Medical Society" was raided in early 2010. "It's about basic human rights."

But this case is all about the difference between supporting and blocking reproductive choice.

First, it's important to remember no one (besides his lawyer) is on Gosnell's side. Infanticide is illegal in all 50 states, and Pennsylvania law prohibits abortions after 24 weeks; Gosnell told the authorities that at least 10 to 20 percent of the fetuses found in his clinic were probably older than 24 weeks in gestation. Prosecutors believe Gosnell killed live babies because he wasn't giving women the correct drugs that would have terminated them in the womb. His assistants were often unlicensed and untrained. He was was not a certified obstetrician or gynecologist. No one thinks the Women's Medical Society was a shining bastion of women's health care. We all want him behind bars.

<snip>

http://jezebel.com/why-we-need-to-talk-about-the-horrifying-gosnell-aborti-472647762

[YoungDemCA]

1. This is what happens when women, particularly poor women, are severely restricted....

...in their reproductive freedoms.

American policies and culture blames and shames women, and that is especially true of the "pro-life" movement.

K&R

[YarnAddict]

2. There are a few things I don't understand about this case

How did Gosnell perform this procedure? I was under the impression that all late-term abortions were performed using the D & X method, and that procedure can never result in a live birth. Anyone know?

[polly7]

3. rug linked to the report with all the details, here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2660716

[Freddie]

4. What really happened

I'm from Philly area and have been following the case pretty closely.
Numerous complaints were made to authorities over the years about Dr. Gosnell but there was no follow-up to inspect the facility. The reason was that after the election of Gov. Tom Ridge in 1994, no one on the pro-choice side wanted to bring up the issue of inspecting abortion clinics in the new, Republican anti-abortion administration. (Since then many are saying Ridge was pro-choice but I clearly remember him saying all the "pro-life" stuff needed to pass muster in the GOP.) As Republicans have a well-deserved reputation of using abortion facility regulation as a means of closing down all providers, the pro-choice side chose to table the issue by quietly ending all inspections of abortion facilities at this time. This was how Gosnell's house of horrors was able to slip through the cracks.