FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Philadelphia, PA — Kermit Barron Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist who was convicted in 2013 of first-degree murder for “snipping” the spinal cords of three babies that were born alive during horrifically barbaric late-term abortions, has died at the age of eighty-five.

Operation Rescue President Troy Newman released the following statement:

“Gosnell was famous for murdering hundreds of late-term babies who struggled for life after failed abortion attempts, though he was only convicted of three. Within his ‘House of Horrors’ abortion facility were found unspeakably filthy conditions that revealed a gross disregard for the lives of his patients. Bodies of babies dating back 30 years were stored in freezers and stashed in trash bags throughout his clinic. Dismembered feet of large babies were displayed floating in specimen jars in a cupboard as if they were trophies. The world has been rid of a man that can only be described as a monster, and we are better off now that he is gone.”

Kermit Gosnell is shown in his August 8, 2025, mug shot published by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections. Also pictured is Gosnell’s West Philadelphia “House of Horrors” abortion facility where horrific atrocities took place that earned him three life sentences.

At his death, Gosnell had served thirteen years of his triple life sentence for the crimes of murder, 211 counts of illegal late-term abortion, and involuntary manslaughter for the botched abortion death of Karnamaya Mongar.

Gosnell was incarcerated at the SCI Smithfield state correctional facility in Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania, when he was transported to an unspecified hospital where he died of unknown causes on March 1, 2026, according to NBC10.

Operation Rescue became involved in the Gosnell case after his West Philadelphia Women’s Medical Society abortion facility was raided by police in February 2010.  At the time, authorities thought they were busting a “pill mill” that was a leading source of OxyContin on the streets of Philadelphia. Instead, they discovered that late-term abortions were being conducted by fake doctors and unqualified workers under the most squalid conditions imaginable.

The dismembered feet of babies aborted by Gosnell were documented by Crime Scene Investigators with the Philadelphia Police Department. This photo was included in the Grand Jury Report.

Operation Rescue repeatedly called on then District Attorney Seth Williams to charge Gosnell. Two weeks after once such public pressure campaign, a grand jury released a bombshell report detailing the crimes it accused Gosnell of having committed.

Operation Rescue’s Cheryl Sullenger attended the 2013 trial and was the first to report from the courtroom nationally.  The case had been largely ignored by the mainstream media until then. She later wrote a book, The Trial of Kermit Gosnell, which chronicled shocking trial revelations.

“The Gosnell case revealed the high cost of regulatory failure and shamed the mainstream media into covering abortion atrocities, at least for a brief moment,” said Newman. “But the main lesson was that Gosnell was not alone. Operation Rescue’s investigations continue to reveal shoddy abortion practices, maternal deaths and injuries, and unsanitary conditions in unsafe abortion facilities around the country. We must never forget that there are still people like Gosnell out there quietly inflicting human misery and death on our nation. Women and babies will only be protected from these predators by ending the barbaric practice of abortion once and for all.”

View OR’s Historic Trial Archive with documents, photos, and OR’s original courtroom reporting.