Gosnell and Truth

 

Myth of pro-abortionists exposing Gosnell grows and grows at the expense of the truth

By Dave Andrusko
A friend was kind enough to pass along a post that appeared at The Daily Beast today, written by Sally Kohn and based on a by-the-numbers pro-abortion speech she delivered this week in Chicago to a NARAL meeting.

I wouldn’t take up much of your time discussing the finer points (in a manner of speaking) in her 1,939–word-long-post. It’s the customary white people of means (and you know who Kohn means by that!) who hate poor women of color which is an extension of (or expression of) the “demonization of female sexuality.”
So we really don’t oppose abortion for the reasons we state—among which is because it takes a defenseless child’s life. Naw, we’re concerned instead with demonizing female sexuality.
Oh, well.

What makes Kohn’s piece worth reading is that reaches a new level of revisionist history about abortionist and convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell. Each iteration burnishes the already shiny image of the abortion industry.
Some of the early “explanations” focused on Gosnell as “rougue” abortionist, a one-of-a-kind exception to the lovely people who routinely vacuum out/cut out/poison unborn babies. In fact the real culprits, we were told, were pro-lifers [!] who keep passing laws. In other words left to their devices, pro-abortionists would create a safe, harmonious environment. That this bears not even a fleeting resemblance to the truth is smugly ignored.

Then we were told that the hands of the abortion industry had no blood on them, at least with regards to Gosnell. That myth ought to have been demolished (but, of course, wasn’t) by two simple facts:

(1) As the Philadelphia Grand Jury indignitly wrote, the National Abortion Federation sent out an inspector to Gosnell’s clinic, found it “the worst abortion clinic she had ever inspected” and “beyond redemption,” but told no health authorities. None.

(2) Back in July, Gloria Steinem spoke at the Planned Parenthood Southeastern Pennsylvania fundraiser. According to the Philadelphia Daily News’s Morgan Zalot, “Steinberg said that when Gosnell was in practice, women would sometimes come to Planned Parenthood for services after first visiting Gosnell’s West Philadelphia clinic, and would complain to staff about the conditions there. “ ’We would always encourage them to report it to the Department of Health,’ Steinberg said as she sat with Steinem before Tuesday’s events.”

Kohn takes the myth of we-did-nothing-wrong to the next (and wholly fictitious) level. Read this carefully. Kohn says

“West Philadelphia is where Kermit Gosnell ran an underground, illegal abortion clinic. Thankfully, Gosnell was exposed because of abortion activists, and Gosnell was tried an convicted of three counts of first-degree murder. … And thanks to repeated exposure by reproductive justice activists and feminist journalists, Gosnell was exposed and arrested and tried and convicted for his crimes.”

This is preposterous. Prior to 1993 there had been some absolutely minimal oversight. But according to the Philadelphia Grand Jury, whose members self-described themselves overwhelmingly as “pro-choice,” the blame for Gosnell’s 17-year reign of terror rest squarely at the feet of pro-choicers.

…[t]he Pennsylvania Department of Health abruptly decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all. The politics in question were not anti-abortion, but pro. With the change of administration from Governor Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions. Even nail salons in Pennsylvania are monitored more closely for client safety. Without regular inspections, providers like Gosnell continue to operate; unlawful and dangerous third-trimester abortions go undetected; and many women, especially poor women, suffer.”

When it came to Gosnell, it was not merely see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil (about evil). The Abortion Establishment and its enablers at the city and state level went out of their way to make sure Gosnell was not disturbed.
How DO these people live with themselves?

Source: NRLC News