Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortion clinic doctor sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of three babies delivered alive, died on March 1 at a Pennsylvania hospital, prison officials confirmed on Monday. He was 85.
Gosnell's clinic, located in West Philadelphia, was infamously dubbed a 'house of horrors' following a 2010 investigation. Former employees testified that he routinely performed illegal abortions beyond Pennsylvania's 24-week limit, delivering babies who were still moving, whimpering, or breathing, and then dispatching them by 'snipping' their spines.
Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens stated that Gosnell died at a hospital outside the prison system. He was most recently held at the State Correctional Institution-Smithfield, about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Gosnell had portrayed himself as an advocate for poor and desperate women. In addition to three counts of first-degree murder, he was convicted of multiple other crimes, including violations of Pennsylvania's abortion laws. The investigation revealed foul-smelling conditions, with bags and bottles of fetuses, jars of body parts, bloodstained furniture, and dirty medical instruments.
State authorities had failed to conduct routine inspections of all abortion clinics for 15 years prior to the raid. In the aftermath, two top state health officials were fired, and Pennsylvania imposed tougher regulations for clinics. Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial; his defence argued that no fetuses were born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.
