A 15-Year-Old Allegedly Helped Kill Live Babies At Philadelphia's Nightmare Abortion Clinic
AP Photo/Matt Rourke There was more shocking testimony in the murder trial against Kermit Gosnell on Thursday when a woman said she helped run his illegal abortion clinic when she was 15 years old.
Gosnell, 72, allegedly killed live babies in a filthy Philadelphia clinic called the Women's Medical Society that exploited low-income and immigrant women.
Former clinic worker Ashley Baldwin, who's now 22, testified that she helped Gosnell perform abortions and saw five aborted babies moving and breathing, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. One baby even screamed, Baldwin said.
"They just looked like regular babies," she said, adding that Gosnell once joked that "this baby is going to walk me home."
Gosnell is accused of killing seven live infants by "snipping" their spinal cords and being responsible for the death of a 41-year-old immigrant who died from a Demerol overdose at his clinic.
Ashley Baldwin isn't facing any criminal charges, but her mother Tina Baldwin is charged with corrupting a minor because she got her daughter a job at the Women's Medical Society.
A graphic 281-page grand jury report that lays out the allegations against Gosnell has more details about Ashley Baldwin's nightmarish after-school job.
Ashley was a full-time high school student when she worked for Gosnell but sometimes worked at his clinic for as many as 50 hours a week, according to the report. As part of his standard procedure, Gosnell allegedly had women deliver live babies in his absence. He came back to kill the "squirming" infants, according to the grand jury report.
His teenage assistant was often in charge of taking care of those women when they were in labor, according to the grand jury report. Ashley told the grand jury that she sent the women to deliver their babies in toilets and phoned Gosnell to say he was needed at the clinic.
The high school student was also charged with giving doses of heavy-duty pain meds, according to the grand jury report.
"In truth, Ashley often worked until 2 a.m. and performed the duties of a registered nurse or a doctor," the grand jury report read. "When asked who was in charge of the clinic before Gosnell arrived, Ashley testified: 'Me.'"
Gosnell's lawyer says no infants were killed at the facility and they were still moving because they were in "death throes," according to the Inquirer.