Kermit Gosnell, the Philadelphia abortionist convicted of first-degree murder for killing babies born alive in his “house of horrors” in West Philadelphia, has been sentenced to an additional 30 years in prison for illegally distributing drugs.
Gosnell pleaded guilty to prescribing and dispensing narcotics for almost two years. He wrote prescriptions for hundreds of thousands of prescription drugs including 600,000 pills that contained the addictive painkiller oxycodone. The customers paid cash and showed Gosnell no medical need for their drugs.
Gosnell and his staff sold the drugs to people under multiple names and even took tips from the people buying the drugs.
According to the investigation, on the night that a Virginia woman was dying from an abortion that Gosnell had botched, he wrote 18 different prescriptions for painkillers and sold them at his clinic.
Gosnell’s attorney did not return calls to CNN for comment.
On the heels of being named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Pope Francis has sent a message to the Americas with a bold pro-life message.
The Pope said that America has been called to be a “land prepared to accept life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age.”
The remarks were part of the Pope’s weekly general audience Wednesday and was recorded to be broadcasted to America. The address on December 12th was to celebrate the feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe because the church believes the mother of Jesus appeared to a Mexican peasant on that day in 1531.
Catholics honor Our Lady of Guadalupe as the patroness of the unborn and her image is frequently used for signs held at pro-life vigils.
“Mary’s embrace showed what America – North and South – is called to be: a land where different peoples come together; a land prepared to accept human life at every stage, from the mother’s womb to old age; a land which welcomes immigrants, and the poor and the marginalized, in every age. A land of generosity,” the Pope said.
The Michigan State Legislature has approved an initiative that would require any woman that wishes to have abortion coverage purchase it as a separate rider on their insurance rather than having it covered as part of Obamacare’s main packages.
Michigan Right To Life began the citizen-initiated petition drive after Republican Governor Rick Snyder vetoed similar legislation last year when it was inserted into a bill to change the state’s Blue Cross Blue Shield.
Republicans in the legislature said taxpayers should not have to pay for a woman’s abortions. Representative Nancy Jenkins said the bill doesn’t stop abortion in the state in any way or even restrict access to abortion for any woman.
Almost all Democratic members of both houses were vehemently and loudly opposed to the initiative and passage. They said that the bill was an overreach of government.
Democratic Representative Marcia Hovey-Wright said that supporting the bill to not make the state pay for abortions via Obamacare placed someone on the wrong side of history.
Fifty-two teenage girls were celebrated in a mass baby shower for their decisions to have their children instead of killing them through abortion.
Texas-based Embrace Grace held the event last month after the girls attended a series of classes by the group that provides emotional, practical and spiritual support for girls experiencing unplanned pregnancies.
“Several of the girls in all of our classes are sometimes on the fence regarding abortion, but once they come to one of our classes and see the support that there is, that their immediate needs for the baby are covered and that they don’t have to walk this road alone, they usually change their mind and keep their baby,” Embrace Grace founder Amy Ford told the Christian Post.
Ford said that many of the girls who enter the Embrace Grace program are not church goers but give their lives to Christ after experiencing the blessings of strangers showing them unconditional love and support.
“We provide a curriculum and resources for the church to implement the program as well as offer sponsorship for the churches that may not be able to afford the expenses involved with helping young women with crisis pregnancies,” said Ford. “If the church, the body of Christ, would join together to support these girls that choose life, young moms will be more open to not abort their baby.”
A pro-life group in Michigan has submitted a petition to the Republican controlled legislature that would put restrictions on abortion coverage in insurance plans.
The new law would require women to purchase an additional rider to any insurance plan if they want to cover an abortion.
The “Abortion Insurance Opt-Out Act” could be passed by majority vote in the state legislature and does not require the signature of the governor. Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican who says he’s pro-life, said he is opposed to this particular measure.
The group had to obtain 58,088 valid signatures from state citizens to require action by lawmakers. The Detroit Free Press reported the group obtained at least 299,000 valid signatures.
If the legislature does not take action within 40 days of returning from a break, the matter will go to a vote on the November 2014 ballot.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a law that will ban abortion advertising as part of a crackdown on the country’s advertising restrictions on medicine.
Reuters reports Russia’s abortion rates are among the highest in the world and that it has become one of the most common methods of birth control in the nation.
“As long as society fails to recognize the value of human life, and wantonly destroys it in large numbers, it will be difficult to establish a new three-child norm. Abortion must cease being a way of life in Russia if her people are to survive,” Steven Mosher of the Population Research Institute, told LifeSite News.
Pro-abortion advocates are furious over the new law saying that it violates a woman’s rights by not allowing abortion clinics to advertise. They said the move just increases persecution of women in the nation that began in 2011 when Russia passed a law banning abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy and required a 48 hour waiting period for an abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court rejected an appeal from pro-abortionists to stay Texas’ new abortion law pending an appeal.
The justices ruled 5-4 to leave in effect provisions banning abortions after 20 weeks and requiring doctors who perform abortions to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.
The four liberal justices who wanted to stop the law that Texas officials say is aimed to protect the health of women seeking abortions said they expect the law to return to the Court once a final ruling is issued by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
A judge had blocked the law days before it was to take effect but was overruled by a three-judge appellate panel. Judge Priscilla Owen said that Texas law would not end abortion; only force women to drive a greater distance to obtain one, and that did not pose an “undue burden” on the women.
“This is good news both for the unborn and for the women of Texas, who are now better protected from shoddy abortion providers operating in dangerous conditions,” Texas Governor Rick Perry told reporters. “As always, Texas will continue doing everything we can to protect the culture of life in our state.”
Newly elected New York Mayor Bill de Blasio says that he is going to target pro-life crisis pregnancy centers saying they are “sham” centers because they do not kill babies via abortion.
De Blasio also promised to partner with Planned Parenthood and other abortion providers to expand services and increase the number of abortions taking place in New York City.
He even said that he would offer city sponsored space for abortionists to open clinics.
De Blasio also said he would continue to appeal a court order striking down a law aimed at driving any pregnancy care center out of the city. He said if the appeal fails, he will create new laws aimed at preventing any center that does not provide abortions as being a legitimate health care provider.
He also said all doctors in the city will be forced to perform abortions as part of their training and will not be allowed to object on religious grounds.
The U.S. Supreme Court dismissed a case Monday, meaning a lower court’s ruling to invalidate an Oklahoma state law restricting abortion drugs will stand.
The Oklahoma law would have restricted the way abortion inducing drugs like RU-486 could be used in the state. Pro-abortion groups sued claiming the law violated previous court ruling regarding how abortion drugs could be dispensed.
The bill would have prevented doctors from using mifepristone, which induces abortions up to the seventh week of pregnancy.
In a related action, pro-abortionists from Texas have filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court to block enforcement of Texas abortion law. The appeal goes before Justice Antonin Scalia for consideration.
A federal appeals court reinstated most of the restrictions in Texas’ new abortion law just three days after a judge ruled they were unconstitutional.
The judges of the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals while the lawsuit moves through the court system. The restrictions go into place Friday.
The panel left in place the decision by District Judge Lee Yeakel preventing the state from enforcing the USDA’s protocol for abortion inducing drugs when the woman is between 50 and 63 days into her pregnancy.
Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott made an emergency appeal of Judge Yeakel’s ruling arguing the law requiring doctors to have admitting privileges is constitutional use of the Legislature’s authority. The court’s order is temporary pending a full hearing, which will likely happen in January 2014.
The law also bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy and starting October 2014 requires doctors to perform all abortions at surgical centers.