Abortionists like Robert Rho and Kermit Gosnell are not outliers

Abortionist Robert Rho recently pled guilty to causing the death of 30-year-old Jaime Lee Morales in a botched late-term abortion.  Morales died following two procedures at a Flushing, New York, abortion facility in July 2016.  During the elective second trimester abortion, Rho committed two procedures that resulted in fatal hemorrhaging that took Morales’s life.

According to Operation Rescue, which closely followed the case, the autopsy revealed that “Rho had lacerated her [Morales’s] cervix, punctured her uterus and sliced her uterine artery.  Any one of those injuries would cause heavy bleeding, but together, they proved catastrophic.”  The Pro-Life organization speculates that Rho finally admitted guilt for Morales’s death under oath only because the jury was clearly poised to convict him of Second Degree Manslaughter, which carries a penalty of up to 15 years in prison.  In the plea bargain he accepted earlier this month, Rho admitted guilt for the lesser charge of Felony Negligent Homicide. He will serve 16 months to four years in prison.

The trial demonstrated several significant similarities between Rho and notorious late-term abortionist and convicted murderer Kermit Gosnell.  Gosnell also killed a woman in a botched second trimester abortion and was convicted of negligent homicide.  Although the men and their crimes were in many ways quite different—most notably Gosnell was also convicted of the murders of several children born alive in botched abortions—there are underlying similarities that are instructive.

As Cheryl Sullenger outlines, both Gosnell and Rho demonstrated erratic behavior, committed abortions past the legal limit in their respective states, and employed unqualified staff, among other similarities.  The mainstream media almost completely ignored both cases and the many tragic victims.  The abortion industry has maintained the story that Gosnell and Rho are outliers who do not reflect the industry as a whole.  To accept this lie is to ignore the gruesome reality of abortion.  The abortion industry profits when preborn babies’ lives are violently ended.  Gosnell and Rho went outside the lines of certain laws, but every abortionist takes human lives.

Stating that abortionists end human lives is not an ad hominem attack but a recognition of fact.  Abortionists themselves have proudly said as much.  Given the violent and barbaric nature of abortion, we should not be surprised that many abortionists demonstrate similar emotional instability, hostility, negligence, and unlawful behavior.  In fact, the abortion industry as a whole has demonstrated these same behaviors by refusing to respect commonsense legislation that protects women and preborn Life.  Abortionists Rho and Gosnell are particularly egregious examples of the violence that abortion entails, but they are not a departure from the mainstream abortion industry.

We must push back against the narrative that the abortion industry is a victim.  The few times that news of atrocities committed by the likes of Rho and Gosnell make their way into mainstream outlets, the abortion lobby will insist that they are being misrepresented and maligned.  In doing so, the abortion lobby victimizes for a second time the women and children who have lost their lives to abortion.  Make no mistake about who the victims are.