Gosnell jury digs deep into evidence

[alp227]

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

The Philadelphia jury in the murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell settled into its first full day of deliberations with questions that seem to indicate they are taking a methodical, detail-driven review of the charges.

The questions from the Common Pleas Court jury of seven women and five men late Tuesday and today all involved charges against Eileen O'Neill, the unlicensed doctor who worked in the family practice side of Gosnell's Women's Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia.

Unlike Gosnell, O'Neill is not charged with murder or performing abortions. Instead, she is charged with racketeering and conspiracy counts for her role in what prosecutors have called a "corrupt organization."

The jury asked to see medical charts for three patients seen by O'Neill in 2007 and 2009 who were charged, or whose insurance companies were billed, for medical services provided by O'Neill, who was not a licensed physician.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20130502_Gosnell_jury_digs_deep_into_evidence.html

[backscatter712]

1. The thing I hate the most about this case...

is how the forced-birthers are using it to impugn everyone involved in the pro-choice movement, and in Planned Parenthood clinics, or in any medical clinic that provides OB/GYN services to women.

The truth is that if the forced-birthers have their way, every woman who needs an abortion will have to go to a place of medieval filth to see some evil scumbag like Gosnell. Gosnell's a throwback to the bad-old-days before Roe v. Wade.

[Dawson Leery]

2. +1,000,000,000,000,000

[question everything]

3. A thinking, decent reverend addressed this in a letter to the editor

Replying to comments that you mention, that I did not bother to read, but the reply is good:

If it’s legal, accessible Gosnell doesn’t happen

The Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice heartily agrees with writers Jennifer A. Marshall and Sarah Torre (“This abortion news will open your eyes,” April 25) that the horrific crimes of Kermit Gosnell are abhorrent and difficult to fathom. Gosnell was not certified in OB/GYN, and the procedures he routinely performed failed almost every standard of care.

If the writers believe, as we do, that such horrors should never be repeated in civil society, we wonder why they represent institutions that advocate the very conditions that allow such a charlatan to thrive. Lack of sexuality education, lack of access to contraception, a scarcity of trained abortion providers, fear of violence perpetrated by clinic protesters, restrictive waiting periods and Medicaid’s refusal to provide insurance coverage for most abortions all make for an environment where women who have extremely limited options are preyed upon by the likes of Gosnell.

The writers appropriately decry the horrific infanticide in Gosnell’s clinic; what they don’t say is that by denying women access to safe, legal abortion care, or by passing laws that make compliance impossible (see North Dakota), this is the inevitable result.

The Rev. Kelli Clement, Minneapolis

The writer is executive director of the Minnesota Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice.

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/letters/204939871.html

[Myrina]

4. You are so, sadly correct.

n/t