Employee Described Filthy Conditions and Babies Born Alive at Gosnell Clinic

Kareema Cross, a former employee of Kermit Gosnell, gave chilling details about Gosnell’s abortion clinic the Women’s Medical Society in her testimony. These details include filthy conditions and babies born alive. She reported him to authorities in 2008 under a fake name, but no one took action against him.

At first Gosnell had her take patients’ vital signs and do typical front desk work, but after two weeks he had her performing tasks she was not licensed or qualified to do. She said her ultrasound training consisted of observing one ultrasound procedure. If the baby was over 24 weeks she would have another woman do it to make sure the baby measured less than 24 weeks. No matter what happened, Gosnell would redo them to make sure the baby measured exactly 24.5 weeks. He forgot the legal limit is 24 weeks.

Cross saw Steven Massof, an unlicensed medical school graduate, snip babies’ necks 50 times. Another co-worker, Linda Williams, showed Cross a just born baby. Cross said the baby was breathing and saw the chest go up and down. Williams grabbed the baby’s hand and the baby pulled it away. After 20 minutes Cross said Williams turned over the baby and snipped the spinal cord with scissors.

She witnessed a baby born in the toilet. The baby struggled to swim, trying to get out of the toilet. Cross said the baby was 12-16 inches along and even showed the size to the jury with her hands. Her co-worker Adrienne Morton took out the baby and snipped the neck in front of the mother. She took the body and put it away in a container.

Gosnell’s defense said the babies were dead before they were born because he used heart medication Digoxin, which was supposed to slow the heartbeat. Cross contradicts this and said she only saw Gosnell use it twice. She would locate the heartbeat before Gosnell finished the procedure and would always tell him the heartbeat slowed even if it remained normal. The two injections she saw did not work.

Cross was disgusted with the filth and started to document the conditions at the clinic with her camera. In one room there was a bloodstained table where many women had their abortions and equipment that did not work.

Another photo was of a sink and two shelves. Her co-worker Liz Hampton would push baby remains down the sink to grind them in the garbage disposal. 50 jars of baby feet lined the shelves. Another sink was filled with medical equipment that were reused without being washed.

The most disturbing part of her testimony was about Baby Boy A:

One patient was particularly memorable to Cross. Her name was Shaquana Abrams. Cross knew she worked with a friend, and after Abrams’ abortion, the two kept in touch. Abrams was far advanced into her pregnancy when she came to Gosnell for a two day procedure. No one ever told why she decided to end the life of her baby. Abrams had been heavily sedated. As she lay sleeping on that filthy, torn table in the Monet room, the biggest baby Cross had ever seen in her years with Gosnell “just came out.” Cross again indicated with her hands that the baby was 12-18 inches long.

Gosnell picked up the little boy and placed him in a plastic shoe box. The baby was so big that he didn’t actually fit. His arms and leg were splayed put and draping over the edges of the box. Suddenly, on his own accord, the baby drew in his arms an legs to fit himself in the box. Gosnell took the box over near the antiquated ultrasound machine and snipped the baby’s neck, but never suctioned the cranial contents, as he sometimes did after babies had completely entered the room.

His courtroom designation was Baby Boy A. The horrific photo taken by Cross seemed to overwhelm the courtroom. His corpse was supposed to be taken to the freezer that night, but when Jimmy Johnson came in the next morning to “take out the trash,” which included removing the abortion remains from the procedure rooms, he found the large, dark-haired baby still lying in that box in the Monet room where it had been left. Jimmy complained about his gruesome discovery, then took the baby to the basement with the rest of the human remains.

The prosecution rested and the defense will start on Monday. Gosnell is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder and one count of third-degree murder. He could face the death penalty if convicted.