Infamous abortionist Kermit Gosnell Dead at 85

By: Raymond Wolfe, originally published March 23, 2026, LifeSitenews.com

Kermit Gosnell was sentenced to life in prison for murdering three infants born alive in illegal late-term abortions by cutting their spinal cords with scissors.

PHILADELPHIA ( LifeSiteNews) — Notorious Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who was sentenced to life in prison for brutally murdering three newborn babies, has died at age 85.

Gosnell died at a hospital earlier this month, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. The monstrous abortionist is believed to have killed thousands of babies born alive in his “house of horrors” abortion facility, in addition to grotesquely injuring female clients, at least two of whom later died.

Gosnell was charged in 2011 on seven counts of first-degree murder and convicted by a grand jury two years later on three of the counts. He was also convicted of involuntary manslaughter in the case of a woman who died due to multiple unrecorded doses of the dangerous sedative Demerol, administered by Gosnell’s unlicensed workers.

Gosnell, who began working as an abortionist in the 1970s, was further convicted on 21 counts of committing illegal late-term abortions and more than 200 counts of violating Pennsylvania’s required 24-hour waiting period before abortions.

As  noted  by Ann McElhinney and Phelim McAleer, the pro-life journalists and filmmakers who wrote the book  Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer , the grand jury investigating Gosnell’s crimes “wanted to charge him with 200 recent murders but the move was stymied and reduced to just seven after pressure from senior political and law enforcement officials.”

“According to sources close to the investigation, law enforcement and politicians did not want their homicide numbers to spike in an era of falling crime and murder statistics,” they added.

Employees  testified  under oath that they had seen Gosnell kill countless newborn babies by “snipping” their spinal cords, as Gosnell called it.

“Over the years, there were hundreds of ‘snippings.’ Sometimes, if Gosnell was unavailable, the ‘snipping’ was done by one of his fake doctors, or even by one of the administrative staff,” a  grand jury report  attested. However, most of the killings could not be prosecuted, as Gosnell destroyed files about the cases.

One baby whose murder Gosnell was convicted for – “Baby Boy A” – was almost 30 weeks’ gestation and weighed nearly six pounds. He was “breathing and moving” when Gosnell killed him and put his body in a shoebox for disposal, according to the report.

The boy was “so big that his feet and arms hung out over the sides of the container” and continued to move after Gosnell cut his spinal cord with scissors, meaning that he likely spent his last moments “in excruciating pain.” The baby’s teenage mother developed an infection and blood clots that travelled to her lungs and almost died herself.

Another baby was born into a toilet and “looked like it was swimming” before a worker cut his or her neck.

Gosnell notably scheduled abortions of “really big” babies on Sundays, when his facility was closed and regular staff were off. On the other days of the week, “Gosnell routinely aborted and killed babies in the sixth and seventh month of pregnancy. The Sunday babies must have been bigger still,” the grand jury report states.

The abortionist’s other barbarities included cutting off the feet of his baby victims and preserving them in jars.

Catastrophic injuries to women, ‘filthy’ facility

Gosnell additionally caused devastating harm to women throughout his decades in the abortion industry, as the grand jury report recounts:

Gosnell’s so-called “Women’s Medical Society Clinic,” like many other abortion centers, was filthy and replete with rusty, dirty equipment:

Investigators who raided his facility in 2010 also found babies’ remains in milk jugs, cartons of orange juices, and cat food containers. They described the building as “filthy,” “deplorable,” “disgusting,” “very unsanitary, very outdated, horrendous,” and “by far, the worst” that they had ever seen.

McElhinney and McAleer related that Gosnell’s handyman “frequently complained that the toilets and drains were blocked with the ‘arms and feet’ and other remains of aborted babies.”

Moreover, Gosnell relied heavily on untrained workers, including a teenage high school student.

The abortionist escaped the death penalty by waiving his right to an appeal in exchange for two consecutive life sentences. He later received a third life sentence and another 30-year sentence for illegally distributing enormous amounts of narcotics out of his abortion center.

Pennsylvania officials knew about Gosnell killing, injuring women but did nothing

Of particular concern is that Pennsylvania authorities knew for years about Gosnell seriously injuring women and grossly violating health standards but failed to take action, even after the death of one of his clients in 2000.

The grand jury report especially faulted the administration of pro-abortion Pennsylvania Republican Governor Tom Ridge, during whose tenure “the Pennsylvania Department of Health abruptly decided, for political reasons, to stop inspecting abortion clinics at all.”

“With the change of administration from Governor [Robert] Casey to Governor Ridge, officials concluded that inspections would be ‘putting a barrier up to women’ seeking abortions. Better to leave clinics to do as they pleased, even though, as Gosnell proved, that meant both women and babies would pay,” the report said.

Multiple inspections of Gosnell’s “Women’s Medical Society Clinic” by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in the 1980s and early 1990s revealed various health violations, though it was allowed to keep operating.

Officials continued to ignore Gosnell after the medical examiner of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, notified the department that Gosnell had committed an illegal abortion on the 30-week-old unborn baby of a 14-year-old girl.

The Pennsylvania Department of Health finally moved against the abortionist after his facility was raided as part of a federal investigation into his drug dealing activities: “Only after the raid occurred, and the story hit the press, did the department choose to act. Suddenly there were no administrative, legal, or policy barriers; within weeks an order was issued to close the clinic.”

The report similarly faulted the Pennsylvania Department of State, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health, and the University of Philadelphia for dismissing widespread evidence over years of Gosnell’s grave harm to his clients and horrific health violations.

Gosnell’s abortion center was far from the only known for dangerous, unsanitary conditions and serious risks to women. A  New York Times  report last year  revealed  that Planned Parenthood is facing “scores of allegations” of botched abortions and other injuries, its staff members often lack the most basic medical training, and its facilities are “in dire need” of repairs. Dozens of  medical emergencies  are documented at Planned Parenthood and other abortion facilities around the country each year.

Indeed, one of Gosnell’s former colleagues, Leroy Brinkley – who recently  opened a new late-term abortion business  in Wilmington, Delaware – previously ran an abortion center in Louisiana linked to the deaths of multiple women.

Gosnell’s demise also comes as Democratic lawmakers, including in Maryland, have proposed bills that would  block investigations  into babies being killed or left to die after abortions. Around 10,000 abortions are estimated to occur in the U.S. after 20 weeks of pregnancy, and thousands of babies are estimated to have  survived abortions.

Raymond Wolfe is a faithful Catholic journalist and editor at LifeSiteNews and is happily married. 

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