Make no bones about it, the anti-choice movement created this monster:

[MrScorpio]

[Dawson Leery]

1. Correct!

Send this to everyone you know!

[socialsecurityisAAA]

31. Abortion isn't illegal in PA.

I didn't follow this story at ALL because people were using it to attack the right to end a pregnancy.
I did hear one thing on NPR, apparently the guy was a botch doctor. Ok, but abortion is not illegal in Philadelphia, there are multiple planned parenthoods and likely other reproductive clinics in the city that provide such services.

[MH1]

34. No Medicaid or other public funding. (Hyde amendment, of course)

I'm not sure why people went to this guy; perhaps because he was cheaper, or because they knew about him and didn't know of the other places? But I found this Slate article which discusses it (and found my guesses to be part of the reason): http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2013/04/15/reduce_access_to_safe_abortion_and_black_markets_will_flourish_how_kermit.html

In any case, don't worry, they are hard at work in Harrisburg to try to make it illegal.

Meanwhile, people who want to help women who need abortions and can't afford them, and ensure they go to reputable providers, can donate to the Women's Medical Fund* at http://womensmedicalfund.org/ . (More about WMF here: http://rhrealitycheck.org/article/2009/06/23/womens-medical-fund-helps-where-government-fails/ )


* Unfortunately Gosnell had called his clinic the "Women's Medical Society", but the two are unrelated. I wonder if Gosnell intended the potential confusion, to help him get patients.

[Arkansas Granny]

2. Absolutely true!

[mountain grammy]

3. Abortion laws only apply to low income women

women with means have no problem ending a pregnancy, it just might cost a little bit more when illegal.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

11. !!! THIS is exactly how it works.

[malaise]

18. Ding dong we have a winner

[intheflow]

21. That's why I hate it when reproductive rights are called "choice."

The only people who have safe, viable reproductive choices are the ones with money. (Ironically, that applies equally to women who end pregnancies and the women who go through with childbirth.)

[raccoon]

30. You got that right! nt

[awoke_in_2003]

33. Yep...

Very few laws actually apply to the wealthy.

[NaturalHigh]

4. A greedy bastard willing to slaughter babies for money...

might have had something to do with it too.

[secondvariety]

9. That's what I'm thinking.

How restrictive are the abortion laws in his state?

[NaturalHigh]

13. Not really sure.

I can't imagine they are that stringent in Pennsylvania.

[7962]

16. Legal for any reason up to 6 months.

According to the law, abortion is legal for any reason by any means during the first six months of pregnancy, but in the last trimester of pregnancy, abortion is restricted only to cases when the life of the mother is seriously threatened or when pregnancy would result in irreversible impairment of a major bodily function.

[NaturalHigh]

19. Thanks for clarifying.

[Hekate]

25. Gosnell preyed on the poor and ignorant

Had they been better off and well-informed they would have sought treatment much earlier and from clean and decent practitioners.

From what I understand, both poverty and sheer ignorance of their options (beginning with reliable contraception) played a part in going to Gosnell's little shop of horrors.

[abelenkpe]

28. That would also place the blame on anti choice activists

With their rejection of science, sex education for kids and endless attacks on planned parenthood wouldn't it?

[Hekate]

32. A very large share of the blame goes to them

Thank you for bringing it up.

[kairos12]

5. Very true

[SCVDem]

6. Religion

Does not deserve a seat at this table.

We simply will never agree!

Live your life your way!

[get the red out]

7. Yes

And they are probably proud of it. It's what they want so they can push even harder against reproductive rights. It's not about babies, or life, it's about control of people through forced reproduction.

[Warpy]

8. I was wondering how long it would take them to point out

that before 1974, they were all Gosnell!

I lost a friend to one of them. Other friends were maimed.

Never go back to that!

[spanone]

10. k&r..

[sheshe2]

12. K&R!

[7962]

14. I'm not letting it off that easy

The abortion law in PA allows abortions up to 6 months for ANY reason. There is no excuse for that butcher to have been in business as long as he was. There were other places they couldve gone, too. The state dropped the ball on this one. He was reported several times and they did nothing. IMO, this gives the prolifers MORE ammo; when you hear what was happening at that place.

[MrScorpio]

15. Excuse me…

But why weren't safe, affordable and readily available abortions services provided for that community so that poor and desperate women didn't have to resort to going to that monster?

Where was preventative services and education available to help prevent unwanted pregnancies in the first place?

This is a cultural and economic issue, where the poor and disadvanteged will always get the short end of the stick in this country, no matter where it is.

He was allowed to operate with impunity for so long because he was able to exploit the desperation of women who could not find services and care by other means.

This is exactly the kind of thing that the anti-choicers want… They want these monsters because they believe that this is the treatment that women who need abortion services deserve and it also helps them sit high on their own horses.

If abortion services were safe, legal, available and unwanted pregnancies rare due to wide-spread prevention, the anti-choice crowd wouldn't have a leg to stand on.

[7962]

17. I guess we'll just disagree on this one; and thats fine.

There are plenty of places in Philly to get an abortion from a competent facility. Just like most other things, people heard they could get one cheap at this place so they picked it. All the reports of what was going on should have shut this place down. Leaving it open just because there were poor folks is a terrible excuse. As a former resident of the city, I'm ashamed of their inaction.

[kimmylavin]

24. Right. "Get one cheap"

What about poor women and desperate circumstances are you not understanding?

[abelenkpe]

29. They don't understand

Because their rhetoric gets in the way. That poster is just an anti abortion troll.

[Jamaal510]

20. And these are some of the same people

who are the first to rub the message of "freedom" in everyone's faces...hypocrites.

[cui bono]

26. Thank you for saying anti-choice instead of the incorrect term they like to use for themselves. n/t

[defacto7]

27. K&R