U.S. abortion doctor convicted of murders

May 14, 2013 - 09:16 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - A Philadelphia doctor has been convicted of the first-degree murders of three babies delivered and killed with scissors in late-term abortions, BBC News reported.

Dr Kermit Gosnell, 72, was acquitted on another charge of killing a fourth baby, who let out a whimper before he cut its neck, prosecutors said. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter of an adult patient who died of an overdose.

The case was seized on by both sides in the U.S. debate over abortion. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Gosnell.

He performed thousands of abortions over a career spanning three decades. Officials said his medical practice earned him about $1.8m a year.

Former staff members of the clinic testified that he had routinely performed illegal late-term abortions past Pennsylvania's 24-week limit.

The trial heard how Gosnell would deliver babies alive then use scissors to "snip" - as he referred to it - their spines.

Among the untrained staff who helped to perform the terminations was Gosnell's wife, Pearl. She pleaded guilty to a number of charges and testified against him.

The trial heard that one of the babies was almost 30 weeks when aborted. Gosnell had joked that the baby was big enough to "walk to the bus". A second foetus was said to have clung to life for about 20 minutes.

A third was born in a toilet and seen moving before a clinic employee severed its spinal cord, according to testimony.

Gosnell's lawyer, Jack McMahon, had argued that none of the foetuses was born alive. Any movement was posthumous twitching or spasms, he said.

The attorney branded prosecutors "racist" for pursuing his client, who is black. Gosnell did not testify and no witnesses were called in his defense.

Prosecutors said Gosnell had run a filthy "house of horrors" with unqualified staff - including those who administered a lethal dose of sedatives to Karnamaya Mongar, a 41-year-old refugee from Nepal.

Officials said a raid of the clinic, in a poor section of West Philadelphia, had turned up bags and bottles of foetal remains, including severed feet.

The clinic also had bloodstained furniture, dirty medical tools and cats roaming the premises.

Officials had neglected to conduct routine inspections of all of its abortion clinics for 15 years by the time Gosnell's operation was raided and closed more than two years ago.

Two top state health department officials were sacked, and Pennsylvania imposed tougher rules for clinics.