Dr. Gosnell

It's widely argued that Gosnell's operation would never have been allowed to operate had it been located in one of the white suburbs of Philadelphia, instead of in the inner city. That's no doubt true. But Ed Morrissey below thinks there's more to it than that:


Philly DA: State agencies responsible for Gosnell’s atrocities

The reason why the state of Pennsylvania didn’t bother to inspect Gosnell’s clinic is because of the political pressure on agencies to protect the operation of abortion clinics. It’s politically incorrect to portray abortions as outpatient surgery, which is exactly what it is, and to apply the same standards on abortion clinics as any other outpatient surgery center.

Abortion supporters want to portray the procedure as so routine and inconsequential that it doesn’t require oversight — and that leaves women at the mercy of predators like Gosnell. In Pennsylvania, abortion clinics aren’t required to register as outpatient surgical centers, and the state didn’t even bother to enforce the regulations that did apply to Gosnell’s clinic, even after women turned up in emergencies rooms and morgues after Gosnell’s treatments.

The Gosnell case is a multiple-murder case that properly cuts across all the disagreements about reproductive choice. Protecting abortion rights should never entail protecting a butcher like Gosnell, and there's no reason it should. "Safe, legal, and rare" is a good slogan, but 'safe' was let slide by the agencies that were charged with enforcing it. If Morrissey is right about the pressures that led to that, and it looks like he is, then a great strategic mistake by the pro-choice side is involved here. It's short-sighted to allow a clinic like his to operate, because when it eventually comes to light, which it will, the ricochet is going to hurt the pro-choice position most of all. And that's without engaging the moral issues connected with, in effect, facilitating what went on in that place; most people will look at this and decide that issues of strategy are by far the least of it.

Byron