Gosnell, Late-Term Abortions, and the Abortion Culture of Infanticide

The mainstream media is now devoting some attention to the trial of late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who is charged with homicide for cutting the spinal columns of moving and squealing babies born alive during abortion procedures.  And, at long last, questions are now being raised about whether such practices along with infanticide attitudes are more prevalent in the abortion industry.

In recent weeks, we've learned about:

* Florida legislative testimony by a Planned Parenthood lobbyist in Florida responding to a question about a baby struggling for life after a botched abortion by saying that the decision should be left to the woman and her physician (here).  (Planned Parenthood of Florida later walked back that answer, but remains opposed to legislation directing medical efforts to save the life of a baby born alive during an abortion procedure.)

* An undercover video inside a New York abortion clinic in which a staff member explained that if an aborted baby were still moving after a late-term abortion, the clinic would place "it" in a jar of "solution" and "the solution will make it stop" (here). (The full video shows that an abortion counselor in the clinic said that in the unlikely event the baby was breathing after the procedure, the physician would attempt to save it.  The clinic has not explained why a long-time staff member had a very different answer -- and a very disturbing attitude.  Nor has the clinc explained why the life of a viable unborn baby should turn on whether it was killed before, during, or after a late-term abortion.) 

* A Washington, D.C. abortionist who was caught on tape saying that, in the unlikely event that a baby was born alive, "we would do nothing to help it" (here).  (This abortionist also pulled back a little on his candid taped remarks to assure reporters that he would call 9-1-1 but take no extraordinary efforts to save the baby.  He also provided no explanation for why death of the same baby outside the womb should be treated any differently than terminating it first inside the womb.)

A broader group of individuals is now asking questions about the culture of infanticide perpetuated by the abortion industry, including the efforts by Planned Parenthood and its allies, supported by its presidential patron Barack Obama, to vociferously oppose legislation prohibiting late-term abortion, to require medical efforts to save the lives of babies born alive in abortion clinics, or to ensure that full information about the development of the fetus is provided to women coming to abortion clinics.

Melinda Henneberg, writing in the Washington Post, is not opposed to all abortions and would not fall comfortably into the pro-life camp.  But she too is asking tough questions about the abortion culture and wants to at least draw the line at infanticide.  Here are a few excerpts (the full article is here):

While in campaign mode, Obama purported to respect diverse views on the abortion issue. But I detected no such sensitivity in his Friday remarks at Planned Parenthood, where he spoke of “those who want to turn back the clock to policies more suited to the 1950s than the 21st century.  And they’ve been involved in an orchestrated and historic effort to roll back basic rights when it comes to women’s health.”

Abortion, he means, though that word wasn’t in his talk.

Though I do not support a “personhood” amendment, neither am I okay with the Orwellian dodge that it’s not a baby unless and until we say it’s a baby. And I continue to hope that someday, Americans will look back on the twin moral blind spots of infanticide and capital punishment – yes, even for terrorists – and wonder what we were thinking.

But part of the answer, surely, is that we’ve tried not to do a lot of thinking when doing so would prove uncomfortable. Part of the answer, I believe, is right there in what that Bronx clinic worker said to the undercover activist: “I don’t know why you want to know all this; just do it.”