Life after Gossnell

This time last year, notorious Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell was on trial. "For procrastination," as one insightful commentator put it. Gosnell waited until his victims had passed through the birth canal before cutting their spinal cords.

Let's not forget that he also killed adult women (a fact that unfortunately got less attention than it should because it only resulted in a manslaughter conviction, versus murder for the infant victims). And his "clinic" was disgusting and grossly understaffed; a teenager worked there, and I can only cringe when I think of how that experience must have affected her psyche.

Time passes; life goes on. Gosnell was of course convicted. The former house of horrors has, in a movie-like happy ending, been purchased for use as a charitable food pantry.

But it would be wrong to view Gosnell in isolation. It's all part of a broader story, in which legislation to regulate abortion facilities is scorned as an anti-choice conspiracy, while the ambulances keep coming. Planned Parenthood aggressively targets politicians who dare to vote for common-sense safety measures: including, most appallingly, the cousin of one of Gosnell's victims.

So I think it's entirely appropriate for the pro-life movement to keep Gosnell in the spotlight. A new documentary film promises to do just that, and best of all, this documentary will air on television.

If you're thinking, "Didn't I already see a movie about Kermit Gosnell?", you are correct. 3801 Lancaster is a short film that vividly depicts the findings of the grand jury report and features heart-wrenching interviews with women harmed by Gosnell. But it was created before the trial, so it obviously can't tell the whole story.

The new film, which is simply titled "Gosnell," is in the crowdfunding phase. The producers have already raised close to $200,000 on IndieGogo.

One of the taglines for the film is "The Doctor is Sin." I don't know if that's an indication that this will be a religious film, or if it's just a clever play on words. The media coverage of the fundraising campaign has been secular in nature so far, so I'm guessing the latter.

The other tagline is "America's Biggest Serial Killer." The producers make their case:

Gosnell killed more people than Gary Ridgeway, John Wayne Gacey, The Zodiac Killer and Ted Bundy combined. In a 30 year killing spree, it is thought he killed 1000s of babies. And that wasn't a national story?

All of those serial killers are staples of cable TV specials. It stands to reason that Gosnell should be too. I look forward to seeing the end result of this project.