Houston, TX – About 20 activists turned out at a press conference yesterday held by several national pro-life groups in front of one of Douglas Karpen’s Houston abortion clinics where former workers say Gosnell-like atrocities occurred, including the intentional killing of babies born alive during abortions.
Dr. Day Gardner, President of the National Black Pro-Life Union in Washington, D.C. addressed the crowd saying, “Kermit Gosnell is not an anomaly. Planned Parenthood and others who support abortion tried to make it seem like it was. … Believe me when I say that abortionists across America are continuing where Gosnell left off.”
Philadelphia’s Kermit Gosnell was convicted last month of three counts of first degree murder and hundreds of other crimes related to his late-term abortion business where babies beyond the legal limit for abortions in Pennsylvania were routinely born alive then murdered by severing their spinal cords while they struggled to live.
Shortly after Gosnell’s conviction Life Dynamics, Inc. released a powerful video interview with three former employees of Douglas Karpen’s who alleged that they saw babies over the legal limit in Texas aborted, born alive, then murdered by having their heads violently twisted or necks cut. The women provided cell phone photos of two of the aborted babies that appeared to substantiate their claims. The babies were large and both had large gashes at the neck. Those photos were released along with a full report by Operation Rescue the day after the interviews were released.
“It is clear that the abortion industry and Planned Parenthood are targeting the black and Hispanic community,” said Pastor Stephen Broden, who was speaking on behalf of the Black Pro-Life Coalition. “They have convinced women in our communities that (the answer) is to kill babies. This must stop.”
The press conference gave Karpen’s attorney an opportunity to defend his client. Chip Lewis claimed that his client was innocent of any wrongdoing. He told the Houston Chronicle that Karpen had opened all his records to the Houston Police Department and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office and is cooperating with the investigation.
“Kermit Gosnell’s attorney claimed his client was innocent as well,” said Cheryl Sullenger, Senior Policy Advisor for Operation Rescue who not only attended the trial but worked with the former clinic workers to document abuses at Karpen’s abortion clinics. “We will just have to wait and see how things unfold, but those photos and the testimony of the three ladies are going to be difficult to explain away.”
The District Attorney’s office is currently “cooperating” with an investigation that is underway at the Houston Police Department. In addition, the Texas Department of State Health Services confirmed yesterday that its investigation into Karpen’s abortion business is still open and ongoing.
Read OR’s full Karpen report and view the interviews and photos