Known Plaintext

A Philadelphia physician, Kermit Gosnell, faces multiple counts of homicide in connection with some barbaric abortions. I expect this case to get heavily politicized by all sides, and the mainstream media will do its usual horrible job of reporting.

I wish I could say I recommend reading the grand jury report, but I can’t. It is disturbing and unsettling. It is also well written, clear, direct, and a repository of facts divorced from political spin. It is necessary reading, but it is not recommended.

Many people will be making political hay out of this in days and weeks to come, but I think wise people will avoid trying to make arguments about abortion from it. Just as Jared Lee Loughner has nothing to teach us about how the rhetoric of politicians leads to violence, Kermit Gosnell has nothing to teach us about the abortion issue.

They can only teach us about the saddest and most elemental fact of evil: it exists.

[Edit:] Removed a reference to Gosnell being an OB/GYN; he never finished his residency.

[Edit 2:] After reading this report I was — am — stunned at the number of dead infants that were stored in freezers and refrigerators. The Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia has promised that as soon as the bodies are no longer needed for prosecuting this ghoul, the Archdiocese will give them dignified funerals and Mass services. I will be contacting them this week to donate money to help offset the expenses: I hope you will consider doing the same.

(I understand some people may disagree with my characterization of the victims as “infants”: but a 26-week fetus is able to breathe on its own and fight for life, and I cannot support any interpretation of reproductive rights that says a fetus, outside of the mother’s body, breathing on its own and fighting to live, should be deemed as mere “medical waste” once it dies.)

I would like to repeat again: the grand jury report is ghastly beyond description. I think the public needs to read it to be aware of the issue, but it is a harrowing thing. Gosnell, if the grand jury is to be believed, is a monster who deserves worse than even Hell can give him.