FOXNews.com: Abortion doctor guilty verdict hardly a victory

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Abortion doctor guilty verdict hardly a victory May 13th 2013, 23:12 The Kermitt Gosnell verdict is hardly a victory. Out of 6 charges of first degree murder to unborn babies, Gosnell was only found guilty of three. Of one charge of third degree murder to an abortion patient, Gosnell was found guilty of a lesser charge of involuntary manslaughter. A 42 percent (3/7) is a failing grade. The Pennsylvania doctor's West-Philadelphia practice was prominently located on a busy street corner, smack-dab in the middle of town. Even though he presumably ran an illegal operation for decades, it was not until February of 2010 that law enforcement finally discovered Gosnell's constantly-eroding crime scene. The raid was not related to the investigation of murder, infanticide, or illegal abortions. Nor was it related to an investigation of Gosnell's patients' dying of pain-killer overdoses prescribed by him after he performed an abortion. The raid was not related to the 46 lawsuits that were filed against him by his victims, or to the numerous complaints that people had made to state officials for years. It not related to the spread of STD's due to Gosnell's use of contaminated instruments or that women. No, the raid was actually related to a prescription drug dealing operation. The grand jury transcript stated that hundreds of babies and fetuses were discovered frozen in bags, and that one of Gosnell's employees assisted him in performing 13 of 31 charges.  But investigators were unable to determine if every single one of the frozen babies and fetuses were illegally aborted. And prosecutors did not have enough evidence to charge Gosnell with 31 counts of murder. Instead, the prosecution only ended up with seven counts of first-degree murder in that he "regularly and illegally delivered live, viable, babies in the third trimester of pregnancy -- and then murdered these newborns by severing their spinal cords with scissors." Then, during the jury trial, the judge dismissed 2 counts of first degree murder to unborn babies. The judge did not give his reason for the dismissals; however, it is most likely because the prosecution did not show enough evidence that the three babies were viable, born alive, and then killed by Gosnell and his staff. Gosnell also charged with one count of third degree murder of Kamamaya who received an abortion at the clinic in 2009 and died shortly thereafter of a pain-killer overdose prescribed to her by the clinic. The prosecution presented its case over a period of five weeks, calling former staff members to the stand, in addition to showing graphic photos of babies recovered during a search of Gosnell's clinic. The staff members testified that they saw the babies move and/or breathe; however, Gosnell's defense attorney argued that these observations, although disturbing and heart-wrenching, were not scientific proof that the babies were born alive. Additionally, Gosnell called no witnesses to testify in his defense. In 1973, Roe v. Wade made abortion legal, primarily in response to back-alley abortions. Women were finally able to terminate a pregnancy though safe and sanitary procedures administered by a legitimate doctor. They no longer had to risk their lives by terminating a pregnancy in the bathroom with a coat hanger or visiting scam artists who used painful and risky techniques. Pro-life or pro-choice, today women can legally obtain an abortion. Pro-life or pro-choice, today doctors can legally perform an abortion so long as it is within the state's legal term limit. The case against Gosnell is grotesque but the prosecution had a major hurdle because only the staff, non-medical experts, testified that they observed the late-term babies breathing and moving. The non-medical evidence and testimony was so weak that the judged dismissed three murder charges: Baby B: Baby B's remains were discovered with 46 other fetuses, frozen in bags inside of Gosnell's office. The medical examiner concluded that the baby's gestational age was at least 28 weeks and it was viable except for a "surgical defect at the base of its neck." Baby F: Gosnell's non-licensed medical student Massof testified that he saw the aborted baby's leg "jerk and move." A medical expert also testified that babies 25, 26, 27 weeks old. But, unfortunately this expert did not specifically examine Baby F so Baby F's exact length of gestation could not be determined with medical certainty. Baby G: Massof also testified that after Gosnell performed the abortion of Baby G, the baby was breathing and Gosnell "snipped the cervical part of the vertebra." The judge found that this evidence alone was not enough to support the murder charge. Certainly, this sounds like cold-blooded murder but our judicial system allows judges to dismiss charges if the prosecution does not present enough evidence to show that the charge must proceed. So, out of all of the grotesquely disturbing information listed in the 241 page indictment, the jury was only asked to determine Gosnell (and his assistant's) guilt on three murder charges to babies. Just three. (And this was after 10 days of deliberation that even included a period when the jury was deadlocked on two charges. He was found not guilty in the murder of Baby E.) This case is definitely about the murder to the three unborn children murdered at the hands of Gosnell but it is just as importantly about the health and safety of women, and the public's needed demand that regardless of one's moral belief's about abortion, the government does not continue to fail us by turning a blind eye to mass murders who operate in plain view. Tamara Holder is an attorney and Fox News legal analyst.

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