As was reported earlier this week, abortionist Kermit Gosnell has died. He was the butcher whose “house of horrors” abortion clinic in Philadelphia was raided, leading to his arrest and conviction in 2013 and sentencing to life in prison for killing multiple babies beyond Pennsylvania’s legal limit and even after birth.
I was in the courtroom for his trial, sitting right behind him, seeing the smirk on his face as if he had nothing to be ashamed of.
I’ve seen it a hundred times, and I have helped many abortionists and clinic workers repent of it. It represents the dehumanization that occurs when we think babies can be killed and especially when we’re complicit in the killing. We dehumanize them and, in the process, dehumanize ourselves.
I knew Dr. Bernard Nathanson, who founded the abortion industry and later became pro-life. He had aborted his own child and, thanks to the dehumanization, declared that he literally felt nothing.
There were about 45 bodies of aborted babies stored in orange juice cartons and other containers in Gosnell’s house of horrors. We urged the Medical Examiner in Philadelphia to let us give those babies a dignified burial. At the same time, we had a ceremony at Priests for Life to give them names. I invite you to watch and share it.
Eventually, the city cremated them and buried them in an unmarked grave. But we found out where it was and had a memorial service there.
The dehumanization abortion brings is also seen in the lack of concern for the mothers whom the abortion industry claims to serve. Besides being convicted of murdering babies, Gosnell was also convicted of the manslaughter death of Karnamaya Mongar, who came to him for an abortion and never left alive.
And deaths like this are the end point of countless violations of health and safety standards. Those in the courtroom, myself included, were allowed to approach the filthy, stained furniture and outdated medical equipment that were brought into the room from his clinic. We couldn’t bring ourselves to even touch it, leaving us astonished that it would ever be actually used on a patient.
There are many additional lessons to be learned from the Gosnell case that shed light on today’s abortion battle and the path forward. Let me just point out just two.
First, Gosnell is not the exception in the abortion industry. Do not think for a moment that although he obviously violated the most basic standards of care, all the other abortion clinics are following them.
Back in the 1990’s I helped put together the landmark book Lime 5, published by Life Dynamics and outlining multiple publicly verified cases of malpractice and abuse routinely carried out by legal abortion clinics across America.
More recently, Americans United for Life published Unsafe, which shows how normal abuses are in so-called “safe and legal” clinics — abuses like untrained staff, outdated medications, faulty medical equipment, failure to monitor vital signs, and much more.
Gosnell is just the tip of the iceberg. And showing that to the American people is a key aspect of pro-life education.
And secondly, the Grand Jury Report leading to the Gosnell case has a key lesson for the battle over state constitutional amendments about abortion, like the battles in Virginia, Missouri, and elsewhere in the 2026 election cycle.
The pro-abortion amendments that have passed not only keep abortion legal but prohibit any delay or hindrance to the provision of abortion.
But what does that mean in practice?
The Grand Jury report makes it clear that in Pennsylvania, the abuses in the Gosnell clinic could have been stopped. But the pro-abortion administration of Governor Tom Ridge (R-PA) discontinued the annual inspection of the clinics.
And why?
The report says the “policy during Governor Ridge’s administration was motivated by a desire not to be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions.”
That’s exactly what these amendments say – that there should be no hindrance, no delay, no obstacle whatsoever. And what that means in practice is that reasonable norms like clinic inspections will be considered a problem, and more Gosnells with get away with what they are doing.
Gosnell has died. But the lessons of his stained career must live on and shape our advocacy, our legislation, and our elections.
Frank Pavone is national director of Priests for Life and the national pastoral director of Rachel’s Vineyard Ministries and the Silent No More Awareness Campaign.
