Gosnell trial

Is this (below) what Dr. Gosnell's defense will be build around? That he was performing a perfectly legal form of abortion? "I spoke with three labor and delivery nurses who are familiar with the procedures, two of them had also read the grand jury's indictment. All remarked at how similar the procedures were." So his practice was guilty of nothing more than, perhaps, criminal negligence in the case of the women who died or were injured, that and some failures of hygiene? Are we going to find out things we'd rather not know about partial-birth abortions, how they're done, how many of them are being performed, and justified how, exactly?

This may be a very troubling trial, wrenching maybe, and not primarily for Gosnell. What kind of slippery slope did we end up on here? I am not a religious believer, but I do believe that the weakening of religious belief in the West carries some costs. How else can any notion of the sanctity of human life be maintained? The word itself means sacred or holy. We replace that with what, exactly, that will protect innocent life? The legal system doesn't seem an adequate answer, as the type of abortions he was performing apparently are legal. We should not have ended up at this place, but it's unclear to me how to avoid it, what resources a secular society has to draw moral lines and maintain them. We'll know decadence has been achieved when the only standards that can be appealed to are aesthetic ones.

Byron

The Eerie Timing of An Abortion Anniversary and Charges Against Philadelphia's Dr. Gosnell

Yet the procedure that Gosnell is alleged to have preferred to implement in his practice is one that bears a strong resemblance to something several public officials have voted in support of as U.S. Senators of "late term abortions." These procedures are more commonly referred to as "partial-birth abortions."

Both procedures begin by inducing early labor. Depending on how early, this alone will claim the life of roughly 76% of the pre-born children involved. Therefore in both cases roughly 25% of the pre-born children survive and a dilemma exists.

For parents who went seeking an abortion, a living child is exactly the opposite of what they wished.

In Gosnell's case he carried the delivery through to completion, it is alleged that he would then end the child's life by using a pair of scissors to snip the spinal cord.

With the majority of "partial-birth abortions" the medical practitioner would deliver the child to within two inches of being completely out of the birth canal, then using a pair of scissors, or a scalpel, would puncture the base of the head, and snip the spinal cord.

What would follow in both procedures would normally be a suctioning of the skull, disposal of the medical and human waste, and the surgical repair of the patient, if any was needed -- both procedures regularly required some repair.

I spoke with three labor and delivery nurses who are familiar with the procedures, two of them had also read the grand jury's indictment. All remarked at how similar the procedures were.