Media Matters Ignores Gosnell Grand Jury to Defend Planned Parenthood

Media Matters for America accused Breitbart News and Rush Limbaugh of falsely accusing Planned Parenthood of hiding the horrific crimes at Kermit Gosnell’s abortion clinic. In doing so, they ignore grand jury testimony that Planned Parenthood did fail to report Gosnell to authorities.

The senior fellows at MMfA need to read and take a closer look at the grand jury report. Dayle Steinberg, Planned Parenthood’s president and chief executive, said “women would sometimes come to Planned Parenthood for services after first visiting Gosnell’s West Philadelphia clinic, and would complain to staff about the conditions there.” The staff would encourage the women to report the clinic to the Department of Health (DOH).

Unfortunately, the article does not state why the women went to Planned Parenthood. The grand jury report said when a woman visited a nearby hospital after seeing Gosnell, it was because of a botched abortion and not for a regular wellness exam. The report also said Gosnell and his staff did not take any steps to hide what they were doing in their clinic.

While Planned Parenthood told women to report Gosnell to the DOH, as medical professionals, Planned Parenthood staff should have done the same thing. The Abortion Control Act “requires any doctor who treats a woman because of a complication arising from an abortion to make a report to DOH. Willful failure to do so constitutes ‘unprofessional conduct’ and subjects the treating doctor to sanctions by the Board of Medicine.”

The grand jury even noted the doctors at the Hospital of Pennsylvania (HUP) and Presbyterian Hospital should have reported Gosnell “because reporting a doctor who harms his patients and breaks the law is the right thing to do.”

The conditions of the clinic alone should have prompted Planned Parenthood to do something, especially since they ostensibly are focused on women’s health. The facility was filthy: countless witnesses told the grand jury about blood soaked recliners and medical tables, cats wondering about the place and relieving themselves in plants, baby feet in jars, and equipment that did not work. It was normal to see patients lying around, drugged up and waiting for their baby to be born.

Even if Planned Parenthood only knew of the filthy conditions, red flags should have gone off in their heads, and they should have stepped in for these women.