Late Term Abortions

As he sticks to his guns on the issue of late-term abortions, the saying "With friends like these, who need enemies?" must occur to President Clinton. His allies in the pro-choice movement have been hurting their own cause. First they lied, then they denied they lied, and then one of them admitted he lied. It has taken the abortion-rights crowd to make Clinton seem a pillar of principle and consistency. But he is on this issue. The question is not - and has never been - whether there are a handful of these abortions, as the pro-choice movement initially maintained, or thousands of them, as pro-life organizations and others assert.

Abortion is an issue that must be addressed on the basis of ethics, not law. I say that not just because reproduction is such a deeply private and personal matter. Another reason is that medicine and science are changing the nature and circumstances of abortion. As new forms of controlling reproduction appear, the only way to stop a woman from choosing an abortion will be to present a moral argument that she finds persuasive. If you doubt that is so, consider the hotly contested political issue of third-trimester abortions.

Kermit B. Gosnell — the West Philadelphia physician awaiting trial on murder charges for providing illegal late-term abortions resulting in the deaths of a woman and seven newborns — pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that he operated a "pill mill," selling prescriptions for more than one million pills of powerful narcotics. Gosnell, 71, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth T. Hey to be arraigned on an amended version of the December indictment charging him and three employees with selling prescriptions for the narcotic painkiller oxycodone and the generic version of the antianxiety drug Xanax.

The White House suggested yesterday that it might support a compromise proposal by Senate Democrats that would ban what opponents call "partial-birth" abortions in all cases except those where pregnancy posed a threat of "grievous injury" to the woman. Republican critics said the bill did not go far enough and would win little if any Republican support. "This legislation . . . is nothing more than political cover for those who are feeling the heat from constituents back home," said Sen. Rick Santorum (R., Pa.)

Philadelphia's Cardinal Anthony J. Bevilacqua and the nation's seven other Catholic cardinals went to Washington recently for an unprecedented lobbying effort. They were joined by 50 bishops and others who hoped to help win an override of President Clinton's veto of a bill banning late-term abortions. Votes in both chambers of Congress to overturn the veto are expected later this month. Frankly, the presence of the clergy in Washington startled me, and brought to mind the reason I left my church, never to return, many years ago. What drove me from it then was the absence of courage on the part of church leaders.

The grand jury called it "a baby charnel house. " For more than 30 years, Kermit Gosnell ran an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia that was the "go-to" place for women wanting illegal late-term abortions or for people seeking no-questions-asked prescription drugs, according to a grand jury. Here are some highlights from the jury's report: Gosnell performed thousands of abortions at his Women's Medical Society at 38th Street and Lancaster Avenue, even though he was a family practitioner never certified as an obstetrician or gynecologist.

1992: Steven Brigham, a few years out of medical school, voluntarily forfeits his Pennsylvania medical license to end an investigation into his Wyomissing clinic. The landlord had successfully sued him for concealing his plans to perform abortions. 1994: New York state takes Brigham's license for botching late-term abortions, one begun in Voorhees, calling him "undertrained" with "submarginal abilities. " 1995: Florida revokes Brigham's license based on New York's action.

Steven Brigham, 55, the New Jersey-based abortion provider who has been in trouble for much of his two-decade medical career, has been charged by Maryland with murdering viable fetuses found at his secret Elkton, Md., clinic in August 2010, authorities said. Brigham, of Voorhees, was arrested by Camden County police Wednesday and is in the county jail, police said Friday. A codefendant, physician Nicola Riley, 46, was arrested in her hometown of Salt Lake City and is in jail there.

The partial-birth abortion ban contains language stating that the procedure known as "partial birth" abortion - a term which is not used in medical practice to refer to any abortion procedure -is never required to preserve the life of a pregnant woman. It makes no stipulations about the preservation of health. This is disquieting for a number of reasons. Because a specific medical procedure is not named in this bill, the description of what occurs during "partial birth" abortions can be used to apply to any number of abortion methods that are often found to be medically necessary.

KERMIT GOSNELL, the West Philly abortion doctor accused of running a human slaughterhouse, is for sale. Actually, the domain name - www.kermitgosnell.com - is for sale for "only $959" on Nowyo.com, a site that sells "premium domains. " Gosnell was charged in January, along with nine of his staffers, with killing seven babies and a woman at his hellish clinic, the Women's Medical Society. Allegations include that Gosnell delivered babies alive during late-term abortions, then cut their spinal cords with scissors.

Kermit B. Gosnell — the West Philadelphia physician awaiting trial on murder charges for providing illegal late-term abortions resulting in the deaths of a woman and seven newborns — pleaded not guilty Thursday to federal charges that he operated a "pill mill," selling prescriptions for more than one million pills of powerful narcotics. Gosnell, 71, appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Elizabeth T. Hey to be arraigned on an amended version of the December indictment charging him and three employees with selling prescriptions for the narcotic painkiller oxycodone and the generic version of the antianxiety drug Xanax.

Steven Brigham, 55, the New Jersey-based abortion provider who has been in trouble for much of his two-decade medical career, has been charged by Maryland with murdering viable fetuses found at his secret Elkton, Md., clinic in August 2010, authorities said. Brigham, of Voorhees, was arrested by Camden County police Wednesday and is in the county jail, police said Friday. A codefendant, physician Nicola Riley, 46, was arrested in her hometown of Salt Lake City and is in jail there.

1992: Steven Brigham, a few years out of medical school, voluntarily forfeits his Pennsylvania medical license to end an investigation into his Wyomissing clinic. The landlord had successfully sued him for concealing his plans to perform abortions. 1994: New York state takes Brigham's license for botching late-term abortions, one begun in Voorhees, calling him "undertrained" with "submarginal abilities. " 1995: Florida revokes Brigham's license based on New York's action.

Steven Brigham, 55, the New Jersey-based abortion provider who has been in trouble for much of his two-decade medical career, has been charged by Maryland with murdering viable fetuses found at his secret Elkton, Md., clinic in August 2010, authorities said. Brigham, of Voorhees, was arrested by Camden County police Wednesday and is in the county jail, police said Friday. A codefendant, physician Nicola Riley, 46, was arrested in her hometown of Salt Lake City and is in jail there.

Several former employees of a notorious West Philadelphia abortion clinic listened nervously, fidgeting and sometimes weeping, as defense lawyers Friday tried to persuade Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner to grant two of the defendants separate trials. Attorneys for health-care worker Eileen O'Neill and office administrator Elizabeth Hampton argued that their clients had not been involved in what they called the clinic's corrupt business or participated in illegal abortions.

KERMIT GOSNELL, the West Philly abortion doctor accused of running a human slaughterhouse, is for sale. Actually, the domain name - www.kermitgosnell.com - is for sale for "only $959" on Nowyo.com, a site that sells "premium domains. " Gosnell was charged in January, along with nine of his staffers, with killing seven babies and a woman at his hellish clinic, the Women's Medical Society. Allegations include that Gosnell delivered babies alive during late-term abortions, then cut their spinal cords with scissors.

In Mo., new limits on late abortions JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - Missouri doctors and hospitals will face new restrictions and penalties for performing late-term abortions after Gov. Jay Nixon said Thursday that he would let legislation backed by antiabortion groups take effect without his signature. The law is part of a trend among states to limit abortions past the point when a fetus may be able to live outside the womb. Missouri's proposal leaves it to doctors to determine viability case by case, unlike new laws in some other states that bar most abortions after 20 weeks.

HARRISBURG - The state House approved a controversial bill Wednesday that would impose strict inspection and operating regulations on abortion clinics. The 148-43 vote came after two days of fiery debate over issues cracked open this year by a grand jury's revelations of horrific conditions inside a Philadelphia abortion clinic that went uninspected for years. The House proposal's fate is unclear in the Senate, which is working on a bill that is viewed as less onerous to facilities that perform abortions.