Legal abortion is vilified by the pro-life Gosnell movie
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The movie positions a criminal as typical of abortion providers, but fails to note that he could only thrive when abortion access was restricted.
After four and a half years of fundraising, filming and distribution, “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” has finally landed in (a limited number of) theaters.
The title of the conservative-backed dramatization of the story of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia physician now serving three life sentences, though, is likely confusing for most true-crime aficionados. That’s because, in the film and in real life, Gosnell was tried on eight charges of murder and convicted on three. That’s a large number to be sure, but a small fraction in comparison to, say, Gary Ridgway (pleaded guilty to 48 counts of murder) John Wayne Gacy (convicted of 33 murders), Ted Bundy (confessed to 28 murders, and was convicted of two) or Jeffrey Dahmer (confessed to 17 murders and was convicted on 15 counts).
Since Gosnell was only convicted on three counts of first degree murder, the “America’s Biggest” moniker is a bit of a stretch.
But the filmmakers and the movie’s biggest supporters aren’t really talking about the kinds of crimes most people associate with serial killers. Gosnell operated an abortion clinic, making him, in their eyes, “guilty” of murder for every unwanted pregnancy he terminated in his office in addition to the live children was prosecuted for killing (three babies, believed to be born alive before he took scissors and severed their spinal chords).
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