By PETER LOFTUS
PHILADELPHIA—A jury here is set to begin deliberating murder charges against a Philadelphia doctor accused in the deaths of several babies and a woman who was undergoing an abortion at his clinic.
The jurors heard conflicting portraits Monday of Kermit B. Gosnell, in closing arguments presented by his defense attorney and a prosecutor from the Philadelphia district attorney's office, following more than five weeks of testimony in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas. Judge Jeffrey Minehart is expected to send the case to the jury after giving instructions on Tuesday.
Dr. Gosnell, 72 years old, faces first-degree-murder charges in the deaths of four babies whom prosecutors say were born alive at his Women's Medical Society clinic. He had been charged in the deaths of seven babies but was acquitted of three of the murder counts, after his defense attorney argued there was insufficient evidence the babies were born alive.
Prosecutors say the doctor and members of his staff—under his directions—killed babies by severing their spinal cords with scissors. He faces a third-degree-murder charge in the 2009 sedation overdose death of a 41-year-old woman during an abortion procedure. Dr. Gosnell also is accused of performing abortions beyond the maximum gestation period of 24 weeks set under Pennsylvania law, and related charges.
Opponents of abortion rights say the charges illustrate the violence inherent in terminating pregnancies, and show the need for tighter oversight of abortion clinics. Supporters of abortion rights have condemned the alleged practices at Dr. Gosnell's clinic and say the case shows the need for women's access to safe abortion practices.
The case prompted the Pennsylvania legislature to tighten regulations governing inspections of abortion clinics by state health authorities. Dr. Gosnell's clinic hadn't been inspected for more than a decade before it was raided by law-enforcement authorities in 2010 as part of an investigation of the clinic's drug-prescribing practices, according to a grand-jury report recommending charges against the doctor.
More than 50 witnesses were called by prosecutors to testify at trial, including clinic workers who said Dr. Gosnell allowed his clinic to become unsanitary and didn't properly supervise staff, some of whom weren't properly licensed to provide medical care. Dr. Gosnell didn't testify, and his lawyer didn't call any witnesses to the stand.
In a closing argument Monday, Assistant District Attorney Edward Cameron told jurors the case was "about getting justice" for the 41-year-old woman who died and for "those four babies who ended up dead."
In the packed courtroom, Mr. Cameron showed jurors some of the equipment from Dr. Gosnell's clinic, which he said was substandard, and showed a picture of one of the babies who prosecutors said was killed after being born alive. He noted that clinic workers, including some who have pleaded guilty to murder charges, testified they saw some babies move and heard a baby make a sound before their spinal cords were severed.
Of one baby allegedly killed in July 2008, Mr. Cameron said: "That baby would be 4½ years old right now. Instead, what happened to that baby—it had scissors jabbed into its neck and it slowly suffocated to death."
Dr. Gosnell's lawyer, John McMahon, disputed the allegations. He said fetuses were injected with a drug designed to cause fetal demise before labor was induced. He noted some clinic workers testified the babies didn't appear to be alive after birth. Mr. McMahon said movement in babies' limbs could have been due to postmortem spasms.
"Those babies were not alive, that's the evidence," he said.
Mr. McMahon also disputed the murder charge in the overdose death of the woman undergoing an abortion, saying her death was a tragic accident but that clinic workers followed the proper procedures in sedating her.
Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus@dowjones.com
A version of this article appeared April 30, 2013, on page A2 in the U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal, with the headline: Abortion-Doctor Case Heading to Jury.
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