The absolutely gruesome story received national coverage. When the news broke the week of January 17th about the horrific discoveries at a Philadelphia abortion facility, the story was featured on CBS News, Fox News, the Associated Press, and even the New York Times published a report. The Times buried the story on page A25 but at least they did cover it as did countless other secular news organizations. This was a story, at least at first, which the media couldn’t ignore. It involves a man who ran what law enforcement in Philadelphia referred to as a “shop of horrors”. Kermit Gosnell is behind bars charged with eight counts of murder. One of the charges included the botched abortion death of a 41 year old woman. The other murder charges were for children who were born alive at his center, the “Women’s Medical Society,” and then killed.
If you can handle it, read the Grand Jury Report. It not just the disgusting details of the macabre operation that will turn your stomach, it’s the very long trail of people in a variety of public positions with a variety of agencies who were well aware of complaints and lawsuits filed against Gosnell; people who could have done something about the atrocities that were allegedly occurring for years, but who instead did nothing.
That’s why we have to wonder and ask just how far the media will go with this story. Will they finally start seeing the bigger picture and not just in Pennsylvania? Shortly after the arrest of Gosnell, similar reports surfaced, although not nearly as egregious, about abortionists in several other states including Maryland, California, and New Jersey. With this in mind, considering what seems to be countless other problematic cases at abortion centers uncovered by pro-life activists over the years, will the secular media finally see that “Houston, we really do have a problem here”? Also, we have the issue of the National Abortion Federation. The NAF is an association of abortion providers which claims to uphold strict health and legal standards for its members. (Sure and I’m the new Queen of England.) According to the Grand Jury Report this is the same group that denied Gosnell’s membership application because of serious and numerous problems uncovered at his operation. In fact according to the Grand Jury Report, the NAF “investigator” called it “the worst abortion clinic she had ever inspected.” So what did the NAF do? It rejected Gosnell’s application, but, according to the report, kept the information from authorities. That’s helpful. So much for “safe, legal, and rare.”
This is not exactly a difficult story to uncover or cover. For crying out loud most of the information concerning Kermitt Gosnell and others like him is a matter of public record thanks to lawsuits or charges that have been filed. Not to mention the fact that this is one heck of story with all sorts of legs and angles to it involving the stuff big and bold headlines are made of: Blatant Government Corruption, Medical Malpractice, and Gross Levels of Greed. But, as the Grand Jury points out on page 16 of its report, that old hot button topic of abortion just seems to keep getting in the way.
“Bureaucratic inertia is not exactly news. We understand that. But we think this was something more. We think the reason no one acted is because the women in question were poor and of color, because the victims were infants without identities, and because the subject was the political football of abortion.”
I know many in the pro life movement will do their best to put pressure on local and national news outlets to finally start connecting the dots and do more than just cover Gosnell’s trial and sentencing. We should all do the same. We should also be writing letters to the editor as they may be the only way this story, outside of the Christian media, remains in the public square. In the end it would be nice to think that the media would start acting like the public servant and watchdog it’s supposed to be. But, then again, this is the sacred cow of abortion and the secular press we’re talking about here. In other words, I won’t be holding my breath.
