Dr. Kermit Gosnell, convicted of killing babies at Philadelphia abortion clinic, dies at 85

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Dr. Kermit Gosnell, an abortion clinic doctor sentenced to life for killing three babies who had been delivered alive, died earlier this month at a Pennsylvania hospital, prison officials said Monday.

Gosnell’s grimy West Philadelphia clinic became known as the “house of horrors.” Former employees testified he routinely performed illegal abortions past Pennsylvania’s 24-week limit, that he delivered babies who were still moving, whimpering or breathing, and that he and his assistants dispatched the newborns by “snipping” their spines, as he referred to it.

Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens said Gosnell, 85, died March 1 at a hospital outside the prison system. He had most recently been incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution-Smithfield, about 60 miles (96.5 kilometers) south of Pittsburgh. A cause of death was not disclosed.

Gosnell had portrayed himself as an advocate for poor and desperate women. In addition to three counts of first-degree murder, he also was convicted of multiple other crimes, including violations of Pennsylvania’s abortion laws.

Conditions at his clinic became known during a 2010 investigation of prescription drug trafficking. Investigators described a foul-smelling place with bags and bottles of fetuses and jars of body parts, along with bloodstained furniture and dirty medical instruments.

State authorities had failed to conduct routine inspections of all its abortion clinics for 15 years by the time Gosnell’s facility was raided. In the scandal’s aftermath, two top state health officials were fired and Pennsylvania imposed tougher rules for clinics.

Gosnell did not testify at his 2013 trial, but his defense attorney argued that none of the fetuses was born alive and that any movements were posthumous twitching or spasms.