Kermit Gosnell Research Paper

Kermit Gosnell is a Philadelphia based doctor. Born and raised in West Philadelphia, he attended Central High School where he excelled as a student and went on to graduate from Dickinson College and received his medical degree from Jefferson Medical School. He gave back to his community in many ways, including spending many years performing medicine for the poor and even opened a rehab clinic for drug addicts in the Mantua section of West Philadelphia (Slobodizan, 2013). He eventually went on to find his niche in the abortion field and helped out women who were mostly poor, minority, and immigrants. Perhaps what he was most well known for is the fact that he performed many late-term abortions on these women. Late term abortions are heavily
criticized and debated throughout the world today and thus, he received much scrutiny, eventually paving the road for his future (Masterson, 2013). Late term abortions are those that take place late into the term of the woman’s pregnancy and can be done as late as 35 weeks into a pregnancy. The process for these types of abortions is very graphic: a lethal dose of Digoxin, a heart medicine, is injected into the heart of the baby in the amniotic fluid through the woman’s abdomen. This causes the baby to have a heart attack and die. Labor is then induced and the woman gives birth to a non-living child (Operation Rescue, 2013). Gosnell was performing what many people refer to as partial birth abortions.
This is when the baby is born and then essentially killed. This raised a lot of issues, most notably whether he was performing abortions of committing murder. Most people believed that this type of abortion was occurring well past the, “gray area,” of whether the fetus is a living being or not. There were also some issues on whether the clinic that he was running was legitimate. These started to take shape when an untrained and unlicensed clinic worker gave Karnamaya Mongar, a woman who came into Gosnell’s clinic in 2009, an overdose of painkillers, which caused Mongar to die (Who is Gosnell?,
2014). Abortion and the notions of Pro-Choice and Pro-Life are very important topics in the world today, both politically and religiously, thus Gosnell and his actions were highly criticized which in turn led to his rise in fame. Gosnell has had many prior complaints starting in 1989 and the FBI eventually brought his actions to light after a raid of his clinic in 2010. The raid was performed to investigate suspected illegal drug use at Gosnell’s clinic, which was called Women’s Medical Society. When the clinic was raided, they also discovered unsanitary conditions throughout the facility, use of untrained staff, and use of powerful drugs without proper medical supervision and control (Williams, 2013). Gosnell was arrested in January of 2011 and he was charged seven counts of first degree murder, which was reduced to four at trial, one count of third degree murder, for the death of Mongar, infanticide, which was dismissed at trial, five counts of abusing a corpse, also dismissed at trial, multiple counts of conspiracy, criminal solicitation and violation of state law that forbids abortions after the 24th week of a pregnancy (O’Sullivan, 2013). Gosnell also received some non-murder charges ranging from 24 counts of violating Pennsylvania’s Abortion Act by performing illegal third-trimester abortions, 227 counts of violating a twenty-four hour waiting period requirement and failing to counsel patients (O’Sullivan, 2013). Gosnell violated many moral and ethical principles during his time as a doctor. First and foremost is personalism. Gosnell had no remorse for human life and did not treat it as sacred or special when he murdered children post birth. Next is deontology and beneficence. Gosnell failed to do what was best for his patients because if he would have done so he would have not only counseled the mothers, but would have never hurt those babies. Gosnell was also in violation of non-malfiesance because failed in his mission to do no harm to his patients. While he may not have harmed most of the mothers, the babies that these women were having were certainly harmed. He failed to realize the teleology of the acts that he was performing and did not realize the ultimate consequences of his actions. Perhaps his biggest ethical violation was the lack of respect that he showed towards all of his patients. Gosnell performed these medical acts in unsanitary conditions and enlisted the help of unqualified people. His biggest lack of respect was that of human life. He allowed those mothers to give birth to their babies and then he proceeded to kill them by snipping their spinal cord through the neck. My opinion on abortion is simple. I do not support it and I am one hundred percent pro life. This may be because both of my parents share the same views as I do and I come from a traditionally republican family, but it is my belief that human life is sacred and is a special gift from God. Thus, it is to be treated as such and an abortion is a violation of that belief. In my opinion, human life begins at the moment of conception so an abortion is a clear ending of that life. Another factor in my opinion of abortion could also branch from my Catholic background, I have gone to catholic schools since preschool and continue my catholic enrichment here at Gwynedd Mercy and it is also the catholic position on abortion to be pro life. In my opinion, what Gosnell did was horrible and a clear violation of human rights.
He is right where he belongs, which is in prison serving a life sentence. I cannot even begin to think of a reason that he may have for doing what he did. His actions were morally and ethically wrong and luckily he is now paying the price for them. Gosnell is essentially a murderer and violated state abortion laws countless times in his medical career. In no way, shape, or form is what he did correct, he lost sight of the importance of life a performed unforgivable actions. Whether it was out of greed, or whether he thought what he was doing was right, Gosnell deserves the punishment that has been given to
him.

Works Cited
Masterson, Teresa (March 19, 2013). “Wife of Abortion Doc Pleads Guilty”, Philadelphia PA: WCAU.
O’Sullivan, Sean (30 April 2013), "Abortion Doctor of Philadelphia Gosnell",USA Today, retrieved 2013-04-30.
Slobodizan, Joseph (March 24, 2013). “Healer or Monster?”, The Philadelphia Inquierer.
Williams, R Seth (January 14, 2011), Report of the Grand Jury, Court of Common Pleas, First Judicial District of Pennsylvania (PDF), Court of Common Pleas of Pennsylvania, archived from the original on April 12, 2013.
"Who is Kermit Gosnell?." Who is Gosnell?. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Jan 2014. <http://whoisgosnell.com/2013/02/who-is-kermit-gosnell/>.