The Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. allegedly operated for three decades with little oversight. State and federal agents raided it in February as part of an investigation into illegal drug prescriptions.
Inside what some have called a "house of horrors," abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell allegedly killed viable babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.
"It's a tragic situation, obviously," Rendell said. "All of those of us who are pro-choice abhor this, because it casts a negative light on that movement. All of us believe abortion should be legal, but that it should be safe. Clearly, what this physician was doing is not safe. It's not safe for the mother. It's certainly not safe for the fetus."
Gosnell, 69, was charged with eight counts of murder Wednesday, seven involving the babies and one in the 2009 death of woman given a lethal dose of painkillers during a procedure.
Gosnell's wife and eight former employees were arrested Wednesday.
On Friday, another former employee, Steven Massof, 48, of Mount Lebanon, near Pittsburgh, was arraigned on two counts of murder and related offenses involving the deaths of two viable babies. He is being held without bail.
The gruesome details were outlined in a 261-page Philadelphia grand jury report.
"Although Massof was not as cavalier about what he did, he admitted that there were about 100 instances in which he severed the spinal cord after seeing a breath or some sign of life," the report said.
Massof testified that Gosnell taught him the scissors-in-the-neck technique to "ensure fetal demise," the report said.
Gosnell hired Massof, an unlicensed medical school graduate, in 2003; Massof left the clinic in 2008, the grand jury report said.
