Philly Abortion Murder Trial has National Impact

I find it very interesting that at first this issue drew no, and I mean no media coverage, until some pro-lifers made a stink about it, and rightly so. Now I did a Google search on the headline and found over 2 million hits. It seems everyone now is addressing the truth behind what goes on in abortion “clinics.” The article begins as below, from Associated Press and many, many news agencies have picked it up – about time.

I urge everyone to give it a read. To see the whole article, simply do a Google search as I did, or you can click on the link below.

Philly Abortion Murder Trial has National Impact

By DAVID CRARY and MICHAEL RUBINKAM - Associated Press Saturday, May. 04, 2013 | 07:48 AM

For weeks, jurors in Philadelphia heard grim testimony about deaths and squalor at Dr. Kermit Gosnell's inner-city abortion clinic. While they listened, the murder case reverberated far beyond the courtroom, changing - at least for the moment - the tone of the national debate on abortion.

Groups supporting legal access to abortion, after major successes in the 2012 national elections, find themselves on the defensive as they distance themselves from Gosnell.

"All of us are appalled by the substandard illegal practices," said Vicki Saporta, who as CEO of the National Abortion Federation represents hundreds of U.S. abortion clinics. "But to make the leap to say that's indicative of the state of abortion care throughout the U.S. is absolutely false." Anti-abortion activists, in contrast, are energized by the case, citing it in fundraising appeals and renewed efforts to expand state restrictions on abortion.

"It's very seldom we get such an opportunity to look at the realities of what's happening in abortion," said Dr. Donna Harrison, president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Gosnell, 72, is charged with killing five people - a patient and four viable babies that prosecutors say were born alive. Among scores of other counts, he also is accused of performing abortions after Pennsylvania's 24-week limit.

Jury deliberations began April 30 and are scheduled to resume Monday.

Anti-abortion groups have seized on the case as a chance to reach an audience beyond their regular followers. Those efforts were enhanced midway through the trial when abortion opponents used social media to accuse some national news outlets of a "blackout" of the case, resulting in increased news coverage. Certainly, there's been national attention. Beth Burkstrand-Reid, a University of Nebraska law professor who teaches courses about abortion and gender issues, says her students have been coming up to her before and after class to talk about the case.

The horrific allegations against Gosnell - whose clinic was licensed but hadn't been inspected since 1993 - have prompted the abortion-rights lobby to repudiate him as a "rogue operator" employing practices far outside the norm.

"This was an incredibly horrible situation and when it came to light, he was somehow associated with the abortion community, which he's not," said Elizabeth Nash of the Guttmacher Institute, a research group which supports abortion rights. "It's taking a long time for that message to get out. He does not represent abortion care in this country."

http://www.fresnobee.com/2013/05/04/3285758/philly-abortion-murder-trial-has.html