Three Counts Dropped Against Abortionist

A Philadelphia judge dismissed three of eight murder charges on April 23 in the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist accused of killing infants who had been born alive at his abortion clinic. Gosnell was arrested in January 2011 and charged with seven counts of infanticide and one count of murder; the last is the case of a Nepalese woman who died during an abortion. During the trial’s fifth week, several patients and former employees testified about the squalid conditions at the clinic, described by some as “a house of horrors.” Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Gosnell. Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart did not give a reason for dismissing the three murder counts against the 72-year-old doctor, who ran the Women’s Medical Center in West Philadelphia. Gosnell still faces four charges of first-degree murder and one charge of third-degree murder. On April 24 his defense rested without calling any witnesses, and closing arguments were scheduled for April 29.