Abortion

AND SO, what Jack McMahon audaciously called a racist prosecution, wherein a black man was being called to account for ending the lives of countless nameless black babies, has ended in a righteous verdict: guilty, guilty, and again, guilty. Three lives vindicated with three words, uttered after months of testimony and evidence that makes you want to turn your face away. But we looked, and we understood that here was madness and evil, not racism. Kermit Gosnell could now face the death penalty, something that has far-reaching repercussions not only for the immediate victims and their families but - and don't let them tell you otherwise - also for the abortion industry.

AFTER READING Christine Flowers' Aug. 22 op-ed on Sen. Obama's abortion record, I'm deeply disturbed. I'm a Democrat and will be voting for Mr. Obama in the fall. I'm vehemently pro-life, and will remain that way. But for Ms. Flowers to suggest that Sen. Obama essentially supports infanticide is truly repulsive. Ms. Flowers seems to be implying that at the time this bill was being debated in the Illinois Senate there weren't already laws protecting babies born alive after abortions.

SOMETHING had gone wrong with the abortion. That's all Marie Smith could think about as she vomited incessantly and shivered with a high fever, just a week after Dr. Kermit B. Gosnell had performed an abortion on her at his West Philadelphia clinic in 1999. Smith, 19 at the time, fell unconscious at her mother's home and was taken to Presbyterian Hospital, where doctors confirmed her suspicions. Something had indeed gone wrong, but it was worse than she could have imagined.

I respond to Vickie Fischer's Jan. 26 letter on legal abortion. She states that when abortion was illegal, women had to go to dark, dirty places to have abortions, and the maternal death rate was high. She also implies that legal abortion does not kill women. First, although there certainly were, and are, dark dirty places where illegal abortions are performed, the majority of illegal abortions before 1973 were performed by doctors. They were more back-door-to-the-office than back alley.

People gathered last Sunday in front of St. Agnes Church in West Chester for a "March for Life" protesting abortion. The protesters sang songs as they marched from the church to the courthouse. The ceremony included speeches.

Here's some general advice about calculating the political fallout from the abortion issue: Don't make any hasty assumptions. In New Jersey and Virginia, Republican candidates for governor are hurting badly because they have supported rigid restrictions on abortions. In Florida, the Republican governor is a staunch foe of abortion, but the legislature handily buried his proposed restrictions. In Texas, anti-abortion Gov. William Clements has called for attempts to write new limits into state law. In Pennsylvania, however, the politics of abortion play out very differently.

NEW YORK - Democrats and liberal advocacy groups have declared victory in what they called a Republican "war on women" and are celebrating the pivotal defeats of some GOP candidates who took rigid stands against abortion. However, the issues in dispute - notably access to contraception and abortion - are far from settled, and social conservatives are getting set for new confrontations. "We're going back to the drawing board," anti-abortion leader Marjorie Dannenfelser told fellow conservatives at a post-election gathering.

The subject of abortion has made a belated appearance in the Philadelphia mayoral campaign. Mayor Goode's campaign aides received a letter last week that portrays Goode's Republican foe, Frank L. Rizzo, as being committed to "supporting the pro-life position in issues which are likely to be addressed by city government. " Goode, the letter said, has a "strongly pro-abortion record. " Goode contended yesterday that abortion is "not an issue in this campaign. " Nevertheless, Goode campaign aides didn't ignore the letter.

As the 25th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade decision nears, we'd like to hear from you. Tell us about a time you counseled a loved one or friend on whether or not to continue a pregnancy. What did you advise? What were the results? Looking back, would you do anything differently? Send essays of 300 to 400 words to Community Voices/On Abortion to the address above.

AND SO, what Jack McMahon audaciously called a racist prosecution, wherein a black man was being called to account for ending the lives of countless nameless black babies, has ended in a righteous verdict: guilty, guilty, and again, guilty. Three lives vindicated with three words, uttered after months of testimony and evidence that makes you want to turn your face away. But we looked, and we understood that here was madness and evil, not racism. Kermit Gosnell could now face the death penalty, something that has far-reaching repercussions not only for the immediate victims and their families but - and don't let them tell you otherwise - also for the abortion industry.

No one on either side of the intractable abortion debate was sorry Monday to learn that Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of first-degree murder. And in their reactions to the verdict, both opponents of abortion and advocates for abortion rights agreed that the Gosnell case was indicative of a problem. They defined that problem, however, in completely different ways. Michael Ciccocioppo, executive director of the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation, said in an e-mailed statement: "For the sake of all Gosnell's victims, let us never forget the rampant disregard for life that was allowed to continue for decades in our state.

The jury weighing a multitude of charges against abortion Dr. Kermit Gosnell entered its ninth day of deliberations Monday morning by announcing it was hung on two of more than 250 counts. It was not immediately clear Monday morning on which specific charges the jurors were deadlocked. Both prosecution and defense conferred with Judge Jeffrey P. Minehart, after which Minehart asked jurors to keep trying. He told them to ask for help if needed. The jury has more than 250 counts to consider in addition to those two. The jury of seven women and five men had deliberated for about 51 hours since April 30. The trial is now in its 9th week.

A Philadelphia Common Pleas Court jury returns Monday to continue deliberating in the murder trial of West Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell. The jury of seven women and five men, which has deliberated for a total of about 51 hours since April 30, broke for the weekend at 1:30 p.m. Friday after telling court officials they were "drained. " The jurors seemed to spend much of the week tackling the murder charges against Gosnell, 72, who operated the Women's Medical Society clinic at 3801 Lancaster Ave. from 1979 to 2010 when it was closed after a federal-state drug raid.

THE JURORS in the Kermit Gosnell capital-murder trial ended a fourth day of deliberating yesterday without reaching a verdict, but they indicated that they had begun to focus on the doctor's charges after spending several days dealing with his co-defendant's. The panel of seven women and five men is scheduled to continue deliberations Monday morning. Gosnell, 72, is charged with more than 250 crimes, including the first-degree murders of four fetuses allegedly born alive then killed at his West Philadelphia abortion clinic.

DUBLIN, Ireland - Leaders unveiled a long-awaited bill Wednesday that lays down new rules governing when lifesaving abortions can be performed, a point of potentially lethal confusion for women in a country that outlaws terminations. Prime Minister Enda Kenny, speaking to reporters after his government published the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill, said he hoped the coming weeks of debate would not turn bitter. But he warned Catholic conservatives within his own party to back the bill or be expelled.

THE JURY is still deliberating on the Kermit Gosnell case, and anticipation of the verdict is high. Deliberations began earlier this week on the gruesome case of the West Philadelphia abortion doctor who performed third-trimester abortions in a medical practice that the grand-jury report called a "filthy fraud. " The stark language of the 2011 grand-jury report conveyed the horror and disgust that most of us feel over this case: "This case is about a doctor who killed babies and endangered women.

The jurors in the Kermit Gosnell capital-murder trial asked their first questions about testimony and evidence pertaining to the doctor on Friday. Since the panel began deliberating on Tuesday, their focus has been on Gosnell's co-defendant, Eileen O'Neill, given that all of their questions were about testimony and witnesses related to her case. O'Neill, 56, of Phoenixville, is charged with six counts of theft by deception and related offenses for working as a doctor without a license at Gosnell's West Philadelphia abortion clinic, where prosecutors contend babies were born alive then murdered.

No doubt the 2014 race for Pennsylvania governor will contain plenty of debate about jobs, jobs, and jobs. That's no surprise, since the economy ranks at the top of the list of issues state voters tell pollsters they care about most. And yet the emotional issue of abortion, always lurking in politics but thrust into renewed prominence recently, may wind up haunting Gov. Corbett's reelection campaign. Consider the trial of physician Kermit Gosnell, accused of four counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing babies born alive after late-term abortions at his Women's Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia.

AFTER ABOUT two hours of deliberation yesterday, the jurors who will decide the fate of Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell had their first questions for the capital-murder trial's presiding judge. In addition to requesting the name of a woman named in one of the hundreds of criminal counts that Gosnell faces, the panel also asked Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart to define the charge "theft by deception," of which Gosnell co-defendant Eileen O'Neill has been charged with six counts.