Not since Hannah Arendt’s portrait of Adolf Eichmann has
there been a more provocative analysis of evil as that provided in Ann McElhinney
and Phelim McAleer’s work detailing the crimes, trial, and personality of Dr.
Kermit Gosnell, “America ’s
Most Prolific Serial Killer.”
“Banality” was the word Arendt chose for Eichmann’s
bureaucratic officiousness in the Third Reich’s Ministry of Death. That term, however, hardly fits the acts of a
self-assured abortionist who regularly snipped the spinal cords of babies born
alive, kept infants’ feet as trophies, ran an illegal prescription drug mill,
and hired assistants who were totally unqualified to perform medical duties in
a filthy, ramshackle facility. What’s surprising
about Gosnell, however, is that his greed and macabre callousness existed
alongside an often cheerful disposition that accompanied various acts of
charity. Consequently, Gosnell had a
good reputation among most of the poor community he both served and exploited.
Additionally, the authors’ prison interview with Gosnell
gives the impression of a self-confident individual with at least moderate
intellectual and artistic talent -- a man with a positive outlook on the future
who enjoyed traveling abroad, namedropping (a friend of slain late-term
abortionist, George Tiller), and playing Chopin on the piano. Nevertheless, Gosnell clearly overestimated
his professional and intellectual abilities as indicated by his desire to
represent himself in the trial at which he was ultimately found guilty on three
counts of murder and sentenced to life in prison -- a sentence the doctor is
confident will one day be overturned.
The term “banality” does comport, however, with the
lassitude and indifference displayed by Pennsylvania’s abortion-oversight
bureaucracy -- whose officials were all too
willing to forego inspections, let gross violations slide, and dismiss even complaints
associated with the deaths of two women Gosnell treated. Pennsylvania’s pro-choice Republican governor,
Tom Ridge, comes in for special criticism by the authors for his “hands-off”
policy vis-à-vis facility inspections -- though they also note that the state’s
bureaucratic malfeasance extended well beyond Ridge’s tenure.
Accordingly, Gosnell’s late-term abortion house of horrors
was exposed not by folks charged with the responsibility of making abortions
“safe,” but rather by a cop investigating the source of some illegal
prescription drugs. The unsanitary
conditions in Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society
clinic -- e.g. cat feces, urine stench, milk jugs stuffed
with aborted baby parts -- raised enough concerns to begin a probe of Gosnell’s
“official” practice.
The death of another patient opened additional investigatory
doors. This immigrant from Bhutan
(mislabeled “the Indian woman” by Gosnell) had the misfortune of being heavily
anesthetized by one of Gosnell’s unqualified assistants who took orders over
the phone from the absent doctor. Lies
told by Gosnell and his staff about the treatment of Karnamaya Mongar didn’t deflect
Detective Jim Wood and district attorneys from finally attempting to determine
how far Gosnell had gone beyond the illegal distribution of prescription drugs.
Eventually the prosecution brought seven murder charges
against Gosnell for killing live babies plus another charge for Mongar’s death.
Though the practice of “snipping” the
spinal cords of late-term babies was common at Gosnell’s clinic, the
prosecution required clear evidence that infants long since deceased had
actually been alive before being murdered. However, since there was no other logical
reason for utilizing this unusual procedure on aborted fetuses, the authors
estimate that Gosnell, who specialized in late-term abortions, killed
“hundreds” and possibly “thousands” of live babies over the decades.
McElhinney and McAleer’s work provides an extensive account
of Gosnell’s defense, presented by one of the state’s premier attorneys, Jack
McMahon. McMahon’s cross examination of a prosecution witness who occasionally
performed legal abortions at a prestigious hospital contains some of the most
damning testimony in the book. The
defense lawyer argued skillfully that there is precious little difference
between what Gosnell is accused of doing to live babies at his poor community
facility and the legal approach to a live fetus (i.e. baby) after an attempted
abortion in an upscale hospital. In the
halting words of a respected female physician, they would “just keep it warm
you know. It will eventually pass.”
The book also highlights other legal absurdities. In Pennsylvania, for example, it is legal to
abort a fetus at 23 weeks and 6 days, even a minute before day 7, but it is a
crime to carry out the same abortion a minute later -- a distinction akin to legally
sucking the brain out of a baby a few inches before it exits the womb or
illegally snipping its spinal cord moments later. Ironically, Gosnell, who regularly manipulated
ultrasound data to fit abortions within the state’s legal limit, appears to
have believed Pennsylvania permitted abortions up to 24 and a half weeks, as
his incomplete and often inaccurate records regularly noted the age of
late-term fetuses as 24.5 weeks.
Given the brutal nature of late-term abortions, it’s hardly
surprising that our pro-choice national press devoted minimal time to Gosnell’s
trial. After all, wall-to-wall coverage
would doubtless raise profound questions about the morality of abortion and
especially late-term abortions -- as it did with Gosnell’s pro-choice jury and
the book’s once pro-choice author, Ann McElhinney. Only a prominent USA Today editorial penned by The
Daily Beast’s Kirsten Powers prodded mainstream journalists into providing slightly
more coverage.
This gripping and detailed book about Gosnell is a further attempt
by McElhinny and McAleer to remedy that widespread media blackout. In the near future the same husband-wife team will
release a feature-length film to further publicize the largely suppressed truth
about “America ’s
Most Prolific Serial Killer.”
When one considers what this book reveals about the gruesome
details, moral incoherence, and institutional trappings surrounding late-term
abortions, it becomes easier to see how an arrogant, controlling doctor like Kermit
Gosnell could continue for decades cheerfully snipping live babies’ spinal
cords and committing medical malpractice on a grand scale. After all, Gosnell is precisely the type of
person who would be drawn to such a macabre specialty, all the while deeming
his den of depravity a service to the community.
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Abortion and the Banality of Evil
Not since Hannah Arendt’s portrait of Adolf Eichmann has
there been a more provocative analysis of evil as that provided in Ann
McElhinney and Phelim McAleer’s [work] detailing the crimes, trial, and
personality of Dr. Kermit Gosnell ...
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