Judge Drops 3 Of 7 First Degree Murder Charges Against Abortion Doctor Kermit Gosnell

A judge has dropped three of seven murder charges against abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, who's accused of "snipping" the spinal cords of newborns at his filthy clinic.

The judge ruled there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the three first-degree murder charges against 72-year-old Gosnell, ABC reported.

Gosnell still faces four first-degree murder charges and a third-degree murder charge for the death of a 41-year-old immigrant who went to him for an abortion.

ABC reports the judge didn't immediately explain why there wasn't enough evidence to pursue the three murder charges. The case against Gosnell appeared to suffer a setback last week when the chief medical examiner testified he couldn't say for sure whether any of the fetuses found in Gosnell's clinic were born alive.

Gosnell is accused of operating a filthy clinic, spreading venereal diseases by using dirty equipment and routinely killing newborns. The crux of his defense is that no babies were ever born alive in his clinic.