# Pro-lifers asking: Why isn't the Gosnell trial bigger news in the traditional media? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [April 13, 2013, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557 "2013-04-13T01:11:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omg_a_Black_Conservative)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/141 "2013-04-15T17:57:28Z")
I would like for BEG to define “biological independence” without resorting to either a conflation or philosophical posturing, please. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/142 "2013-04-15T17:59:48Z")
Oh, well, I would never trust a doctor who tells me I have to make a very large electronic deposit iinto his bank account before I am allowed to even meet him. Once you pay the money your basically stuck with whatever you get. It sounds like once you put a huge sum ofmoney in his account, then you travel to a secret location, and whether you feel confident of his services or not, your on the hook for all that money. I think that would make alot of women feel like once they manage to come up with all that money, alot of them probably feel they have to go theough with the procedure, whether they want to or not. That might be why he does it that way. Pay first before you come for the service. They cannot meet him it sounds like until they have the service done. Not like a real doctor where you meet and have a consultation BEFORE deciding to have it or not ---
**Author:** ![foolsguinea](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foolsguinea/32/14751_2.png) [@foolsguinea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/foolsguinea)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/143 "2013-04-15T18:10:18Z")
Why are you now talking about your uncited scam doctor? ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/144 "2013-04-15T18:15:49Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > Oh, well, I would never trust a doctor who tells me I have to make a very large electronic deposit iinto his bank account before I am allowed to even meet him. Once you pay the money your basically stuck with whatever you get. It sounds like once you put a huge sum ofmoney in his account, then you travel to a secret location, and whether you feel confident of his services or not, your on the hook for all that money. I think that would make alot of women feel like once they manage to come up with all that money, alot of them probably feel they have to go theough with the procedure, whether they want to or not. That might be why he does it that way. Pay first before you come for the service. They cannot meet him it sounds like until they have the service done. Not like a real doctor where you meet and have a consultation BEFORE deciding to have it or not 1. Unless you have information to the contrary, he is a real doctor. 2. How many death threats does you personal physician receive each year? ---
**Author:** ![adaher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@adaher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adaher)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/145 "2013-04-15T19:13:32Z")
Brown Eyed Girl, when I refer to viability, I don’t mean that it’s biologically independent, only that it has human rights at that point. The woman still takes precedence if her health is threatened, but she no longer has the right to just kill it for elective reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Tollhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e99b99/32.png) [@Tollhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tollhouse)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/146 "2013-04-15T19:23:30Z")
He may have at some point earned a medical degree. Are you saying theres no such thing as a quack? Maybe I have a higher standard of what would qualify someone to be a real doctor, not a quack, however you want to put it. Any doctor who makes you deposit thousands into his bank account electronically, before you even meet him would not qualify as doing a legit medical practice. I cant imagine not.being able to meet with and have a consult with a doctor before going thru with it. If your so concerned about women this should concern you. Pay everything into an anonymous bank account, then show up and get the procedure. If you have a concern or second thought on the day of the surgery its too late. If this had anything to do with any other type of service, especially a medical service, you would undoubtedtly say thats absurd ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/147 "2013-04-15T19:27:21Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > He may have at some point earned a medical degree. Are you saying theres no such thing as a quack? Maybe I have a higher standard of what would qualify someone to be a real doctor, not a quack, however you want to put it. Any doctor who makes you deposit thousands into his bank account electronically, before you even meet him would not qualify as doing a legit medical practice. I cant imagine not.being able to meet with and have a consult with a doctor before going thru with it. If your so concerned about women this should concern you. Pay everything into an anonymous bank account, then show up and get the procedure. If you have a concern or second thought on the day of the surgery its too late. If this had anything to do with any other type of service, especially a medical service, you would undoubtedtly say thats absurd Do you have as cite for this doctor? ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/148 "2013-04-15T19:32:25Z")
> [@Tollhouse](#): > > He may have at some point earned a medical degree. Are you saying theres no such thing as a quack? Maybe I have a higher standard of what would qualify someone to be a real doctor, not a quack, however you want to put it. Any doctor who makes you deposit thousands into his bank account electronically, before you even meet him would not qualify as doing a legit medical practice. I cant imagine not.being able to meet with and have a consult with a doctor before going thru with it. If your so concerned about women this should concern you. Pay everything into an anonymous bank account, then show up and get the procedure. If you have a concern or second thought on the day of the surgery its too late. If this had anything to do with any other type of service, especially a medical service, you would undoubtedtly say thats absurd I say it’s fucking insane, is what it is. And NOT in accordance with any sort of guidelines from licensing boards and/or board certifications, and any doctor operating in such a manner is probably doing so illegally and without insurance. I would fully expect this to be a total scam, and the address to be either a post office box or a shady warehouse with rusty tools out of pre Roe v Wade abortion horror story. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/149 "2013-04-15T19:44:45Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > But that’s an op-ed piece, not a straight news story. How many news stories have they done? Several. Odd that none of them, apart from the single AP dispatch, were mentioned in the blog entry, huh? I wonder why that blog author did not mention the existence of these stories? There was [this from January 22,2011](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/22/women-pa-abortions-left-us-sterile-near-death/): > [@](#): > > Just days after Marie Smith got an abortion at a West Philadelphia clinic, her stomach swelled and she began vomiting green stuff. > Her mother, Johnnie Mae Smith, took her to a hospital where doctors rushed the unconscious 20-year-old into surgery to remove numerous fetal parts that were left inside her body, causing a potentially fatal infection. The doctor who performed the abortion, Kermit Gosnell, turned up at the hospital with his checkbook, aiming to settle immediately, the mother said. > Instead, Johnnie Mae Smith chased him away, vowing to sue. Later, her daughter got just $3,000 — after lawyer fees — from a $5,000 settlement. > Gosnell, by contrast, took in at least $1.8 million a year from his corner-store medical practice at the Women’s Medical Society, which prosecutors who charged him with eight counts of murder this week called his drug mill by day and abortion mill by night. > “His entire practice showed nothing but a callous disdain for the lives of his patients,” Philadelphia prosecutors wrote in a ghoulish, nearly 300-page grand jury report released Wednesday. “His contempt for laws designed to protect patients’ safety resulted in the death of Karnamaya Mongar.” A week later in [January 2011, they ran](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/31/probe-of-delaware-abortion-sites-asked/) this piece: > [@](#): > > An anti-abortion group called on federal prosecutors in Delaware on Monday to investigate a women’s clinic operation tied to a Pennsylvania doctor who is charged with several counts of murder. > The Seaford-based Delaware Family Policy Council also urged state Attorney General Beau Biden, who previously announced his agency’s own investigation of Atlantic Women’s Medical Services, to “thoroughly and publicly” detail his findings regarding AWMS clinics in Wilmington and Dover. > The clinic service is associated with Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 66, who is charged with murder in Pennsylvania and whose Delaware licenses to practice medicine and dispense drugs were suspended in March because of allegations against him in Pennsylvania. This ran [January 19th](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/19/pa-abortion-doctor-killed-7-babies-with-scissors/): > [@](#): > > A doctor who provided abortions for minorities, immigrants and poor women in a “house of horrors” clinic has been charged with eight counts of murder in the deaths of a patient and seven babies who were born alive and then killed with scissors, prosecutors said Wednesday. > Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 69, made millions of dollars over 30 years, performing as many illegal, late-term abortions as he could, prosecutors said. State regulators ignored complaints about him and failed to inspect his clinic since 1993, but no charges were warranted against them, given time limits and existing law, District Attorney Seth Williams said. Nine of Dr. Gosnell’s employees also were charged. > Dr. Gosnell “induced labor, forced the live birth of viable babies in the sixth, seventh, eighth month of pregnancy, and then killed those babies by cutting into the back of the neck with scissors and severing their spinal cord,” Mr. Williams said. And [later that month:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jan/25/checks-of-pa-abortion-clinics-find-some-problems/) > [@](#): > > When they finally resumed routine inspections of abortion clinics last year after more than 15 years, Pennsylvania health regulators ordered 14 of the state’s 22 freestanding clinics to remedy problems, a review of records shows. > But none of the conditions found remotely approached the filthy and illegal operations described at the now-shuttered Philadelphia women’s clinic presided over by a doctor who faces eight counts of murder related to his work there. > The grand jury that investigated Dr. Kermit Gosnell, his wife and eight other clinic workers had scathing criticism last week for Pennsylvania’s state health and medical regulators for allowing the conditions at Gosnell’s Women’s Medical Society to exist unchecked for years. [From February 2011](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/feb/9/judge-orders-trial-for-pa-abortion-doctor/): > [@](#): > > A Philadelphia judge Wednesday ordered an immediate trial for abortion clinic doctor Kermit Gosnell, his wife and eight employees on murder, conspiracy and other charges, saying a 300-page grand jury investigation detailing the filthy conditions and brutal practices at the clinic made a preliminary hearing unnecessary. > With Dr. Gosnell appearing in court in a T-shirt and jeans, Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes cited testimony to a grand jury by some 62 witnesses about the conditions at the now-closed Women’s Medical Society, where federal investigators say the illegal clinic’s practices left two women dead and routinely killed late-term babies by creating an incision in their necks and then severing their spines with scissors. [This one,](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/mar/2/prosecutors-seeking-death-pa-abortion-doctor/) from March 2011: > [@](#): > > Pennsylvania prosecutors will seek the death penalty for abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell in a state that has not executed an inmate in more than a decade. > In a case that has embarrassed state regulators, Dr. Gosnell is charged with killing seven live newborns and a woman who died from an anesthesia overdose at his inner-city Philadelphia clinic. > On Wednesday, prosecutors cited as aggravating circumstances the multiple deaths and ages of the victims at a preliminary hearing. Dr. Gosnell did not attend the hearing. There’s [this one](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/oct/27/two-plead-guilty-to-murder-of-a-baby-mother-at-phi/), from October 2011: > [@](#): > > Two abortion clinic workers pleaded guilty Thursday to third-degree murder in deaths at a Philadelphia clinic where seven babies were said to have been killed with scissors and a patient died from an overdose of painkillers. > Andrea Moton, 34, admitted her involvement in the death of one baby. Sherry West, 52, pleaded guilty in the February 2009 death of Karnamaya Mongar, a Bhutanese immigrant. Neither worker was properly trained for the work they did at the clinic run by Dr. Kermit Gosnell, authorities said. > Dr. Gosnell and nine employees, including his wife, were charged earlier this year after a grand jury report detailed the macabre conditions at the West Philadelphia clinic. Dr. Gosnell, the only doctor, and other staff are accused of performing illegal late-term abortions and killing babies born alive by severing their spinal cords with scissors. > Dr. Gosnell, who denies the allegations, is being held on $2 million bail. Here’s one from [June of 2012 that says:](http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jun/18/abortion-clinics-in-pa-face-new-regulations/) > [@](#): > > The law was spurred by a case in which state officials called a clinic a “house of horrors.” Inside the now-shuttered Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia, newborn babies were routinely killed in illegal, late-term abortions performed by workers who weren’t properly trained, prosecutors say. > The operator, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, was charged last year with murder in the deaths of seven babies and one patient and with drug conspiracy and distribution charges in connection with what authorities say are thousands of illegal prescriptions he wrote for painkillers and sedatives. > Federal drug and FBI agents raided the clinic in February 2010 and reported finding deplorable and unsanitary conditions, including fetal parts in jars. That led to an investigation in which authorities accused Dr. Gosnell of routinely performing illegal late-term abortions and said some viable babies were killed by having their spinal cords severed with scissors. > Dr. Gosnell has said he is innocent. ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/150 "2013-04-15T20:45:30Z")
I’m going to go ahead and say the main reason this hasn’t been reported more is the same reason I read two of **Bricker’s** quotes, and then scrolled on past: This story is utterly horrific and no sane person wants to read about it. It also has very little to do with abortion as a political issue in the US today. No one, absolutely no one, thinks what when on in that place is ok. He’s on trial for murder because that’s what he did; there’s no debate here. Sure, both sides can use it as a political football and try to make something out of it, but at it’s base it has as much to do with abortion as Jeffrey Dahmer had to do with cleanliness standards in restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/151 "2013-04-15T20:59:08Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I’m going to go ahead and say the main reason this hasn’t been reported more is the same reason I read two of **Bricker’s** quotes, and then scrolled on past: This story is utterly horrific and no sane person wants to read about it. The recent mass shootings were pretty horrific, but the MSM seemed to think sane people wanted to read about it. > [@](#): > > Sure, both sides can use it as a political football and try to make something out of it… I think the problem is that both sides **can’t** make something out of it. Only the anti-abortion side can make something out of it. And since, as mentioned, that doesn’t fit into a story the MSM wants to think much about, they don’t think about covering it. That’s not a conspiracy - more like a consensus. The pro-abortion side and its allies in the media don’t want to talk about restrictions on abortion for the same reason the NRA doesn’t want to talk about “common sense” restrictions on gun ownership. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brown_eyed_girl/32/3574_2.png) [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brown_Eyed_Girl)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/152 "2013-04-15T21:09:52Z")
> [@Omg\_a\_Black\_Conservative](#): > > I would like for BEG to define “biological independence” without resorting to either a conflation or philosophical posturing, please. It should be obvious, but not biologically dependent on another human being to preserve its life. As in, not physically connected and reliant on another human to provide sustenance and a womb in which to incubate. And with that, I’m going back to following the Boston bombing and I may come back later to follow up. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/153 "2013-04-15T21:20:41Z")
> [@Brown\_Eyed\_Girl](#): > > It should be obvious, but not biologically dependent on another human being to preserve its life. As in, not physically connected and reliant on another human to provide sustenance and a womb in which to incubate. Can I offer a slight amendment? Not dependent on a _specific_, and only that specific human being, to preserve its life. That works for me, anyhow, as once a nurse and/or an adoptive parent can care for the infant, I’m good with not killing it outright. But as long as the mother is the only person on the face of the earth who can care for it through her own organs, I’m good with her right not to be pregnant outweighing the theoretical “right” of the fetus to use her as a slave against her will. I not pro dead babies, I’m pro right to not be pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/154 "2013-04-15T21:28:20Z")
That makes sense: it may be “medical waste” to me, but if someone else wants it that badly, well, let them have it. I (hypothetically) have the right to be rid of an unwanted pregnancy, but do not necessarily have the right to ensure that the resulting tissues are destroyed. (Just so long as the other side makes the same concession regarding embryonic stem cells, eh?) ---
**Author:** ![miss\_elizabeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@miss\_elizabeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/miss_elizabeth)\ **Post date:** [April 15, 2013, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/155 "2013-04-15T21:29:47Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > The recent mass shootings were pretty horrific, but the MSM seemed to think sane people wanted to read about it. > I think the problem is that both sides **can’t** make something out of it. Only the anti-abortion side can make something out of it. And since, as mentioned, that doesn’t fit into a story the MSM wants to think much about, they don’t think about covering it. That’s not a conspiracy - more like a consensus. > > The pro-abortion side and its allies in the media don’t want to talk about restrictions on abortion for the same reason the NRA doesn’t want to talk about “common sense” restrictions on gun ownership. > > Regards, > Shodan The coverage of the recent mass shooting didn’t go into detail about the disgusting details of the crime. Also, the details were nowhere near as bad as this Gosnell shit. I’m sorry, shooting a kid is bad, but jars of baby feet is worse. Both are awful, but one turns your stomach in a way the other doesn’t. I feel you;re being disingenuous to say otherwise. And from my perspective there’s a lot more here for the pro-choice side than the forced-birth side. But probably because I’m pro-choice and projecting my own biases, which I can at least admit. Also, I read an absolute ton of feminist/lefty news, and I’ve been hearing about (and skimming past the details of) this story since it broke. So, if pro-choice people don’t want to report on it, someone forgot to tell all the pro-choice websites I read. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/156 "2013-04-16T00:41:00Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > I’m going to go ahead and say the main reason this hasn’t been reported more is the same reason I read two of **Bricker’s** quotes, and then scrolled on past: This story is utterly horrific and no sane person wants to read about it. Doesn’t that also apply to the recent school shooting? > [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > The coverage of the recent mass shooting didn’t go into detail about the disgusting details of the crime. Also, the details were nowhere near as bad as this Gosnell shit. I’m sorry, shooting a kid is bad, but jars of baby feet is worse. Both are awful, but one turns your stomach in a way the other doesn’t. I feel you;re being disingenuous to say otherwise. I agree there’s a extra layer of horror in the Gosnell story, but I don’t agree that somehow that makes the school shooting anything other than something horrific. ---
**Author:** ![papergirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/aca169/32.png) [@papergirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/papergirl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/157 "2013-04-16T01:15:52Z")
No way am I getting into an abortion fight, but I will say this: My small-town newspaper, routinely reviled as “liberal” in local comments-to-the-editor, and which has a single full page of national news on a good day, has had several stories about the Gosnell clinic. I don’t know how many offhand, but several–that’s where I saw the first reference, and I just saw another story in the last couple of days. It’s a horrible story, and I think that the whole awful situation is much, much more about money thank abortion. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/158 "2013-04-16T01:57:17Z")
> [@papergirl](#): > > It’s a horrible story, and I think that the whole awful situation is much, much more about money than abortion. Well, it’s about both. But, you’re right, it’s mostly money. The clinic was walking distance from the best medical campus in Pennsylvania (according to rating sources like US News and World Report). Unlike many hospitals, it seems that the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) still does abortions, at least if this pro-life link can be believed: [http://prolifeunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abortchar10a.pdf](http://prolifeunion.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/abortchar10a.pdf) Based on the above, Gosnell’s clinic (Lancaster Avenue) was doing more than four times as many abortions as HUP. I think this is because HUP is extremely expensive for self-pay patients. We often get bills where HUP’s Blue Cross charge is a tenth the original price that would be charged someone without insurance. That’s the other money scandal. ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/159 "2013-04-16T08:23:31Z")
> [@adaher](#): > > Brown Eyed Girl, when I refer to viability, I don’t mean that it’s biologically independent, only that it has human rights at that point. The woman still takes precedence if her health is threatened, but she no longer has the right to just kill it for elective reasons. [Viability](http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/viable) means that the fetus/baby can live outside the uterus, that’s the definition. If a fetus/baby cannot live outside the uterus, then it’s nonviable. You are trying to redefine a word that already has an established meaning. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2013, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557/160 "2013-04-16T12:44:26Z")
> [@miss\_elizabeth](#): > > The coverage of the recent mass shooting didn’t go into detail about the disgusting details of the crime. Also, the details were nowhere near as bad as this Gosnell shit. I’m sorry, shooting a kid is bad, but jars of baby feet is worse. Both are awful, but one turns your stomach in a way the other doesn’t. I feel you;re being disingenuous to say otherwise. Which explains why no one has ever heard of Jeffrey Dahmer, because the MSM would never cover a crime if it was disgusting in its details. But your perspective is interesting. It appears you believe that if instead of shooting an abortionist, someone kidnapped and tortured him to death over a period of days, the national media would bury the story on page 6. I’m sorry to say I don’t believe you. Regards, Shodan [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pro-lifers-asking-why-isnt-the-gosnell-trial-bigger-news-in-the-traditional-media/655557.md?page=9)