Pennsylvania Lawmakers Use Murderous Doctor To Justify Back-Door Abortion Ban
Earlier this year, Dr. Kermit Gosnell was charged with killing a patient at his Philadelphia abortion clinic, inducing the live birth of several babies then cutting their spines with scissors, and keeping jars of fetel feet for no medical purpose. Now his alleged crimes could have horrible consequences for all Pennsylvania women, not just those who were unfortunate enough to be his patients. Legislators in the state are using the Gosnell case as justification for an absurd new bill that could shut down all of the 20 freestanding abortion clinics in the state.
Philadelphia Weekly reports that SB 732 would require clinics to perform renovations to meet the building and staff requirements of ambulatory surgical facilities. This would include doubling the size of proceure rooms and installing hospital-style elevators. Plus, clinics would have to pay to have a RN in the room whenever a patient is present, even if they’re just having their yearly Pap test. Pennsylvanians for Choice has determined that if the bill goes through, “most, if not all, of the 20 nonhospital-based clinics in Pennsylvania would either have to move or discontinue offering surgical abortion services altogether.”
Anti-choice legislators argue that the new restrictions would prevent another monster like Gosnell from treating women. But Gosnell didn’t start butchering babies because his hallways weren’t wide enough. According to a report from Governor Tom Corbett himself (who’s expected to support SB 732) Gosnell was able to continue running his veritable “house of horrors” because his clinic wasn’t inspected for 15 years. Third trimester abortions (not to mention homicide and drug trafficking) are already illegal in the state, but officials simply weren’t doing their job. As Corbett put it, “This doesn’t even rise to the level of government run amok … It was government not running at all.”