MSNBC's Sharpton Warns Conservatives Could Make More Gosnell's If Abortion Restricted
On Monday's PoliticsNation, MSNBC host Al Sharpton devoted a short segment to the guilty verdict against Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell, but he ended up warning that conservatives would create more Gosnell cases if they restrict abortion.
After noting some of the grisly details of the murder case, Sharpton turned his attention to attacking conservatives and defending legal abortion:
Of course some of the right are trying to use this horrific case to attack all abortion rights, to claim women shouldn't be able to make their own choices about medical procedures that are safe and legal. In fact, House Republicans have already used Gosnell to call for an investigation of clinics all over the country.
He concluded:
But if conservatives succeed in scaling back safe, legal access to abortion, we'll have more Kermit Gosnell's, not less.
Unlike Sharpton, MSNBC hosts Chris Hayes and Lawrence O'Donnell did not mention the Gosnell verdict on the All In show and on The Last Word on Monday night.
Below is a complete transcript of the segment from the Monday, May 13, PoliticsNation on MSNBC:
Tonight, justice for Kermit Gosnell. He's the Philadelphia doctor who preyed on poor women and who broke the law on abortions. Today found guilty of three counts of first-degree murder. The jury found Gosnell guilty of the illegal abortions of three babies who police say were delivered alive and then killed. He was also found guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the drug overdose death of a patient who had undergone an abortion. Gosnell's clinic made a mockery of the laws governing safe, legal abortions in this country.
Police say the clinic had blood-stained furniture and dirty instruments. It was a house of horrors for low-income women who felt they had nowhere else to go, who didn't have access to quality health care. For 15 years, before Gosnell was discovered, authorities in Pennsylvania had failed to conduct proper inspections of all the clinics in the state. That allowed Gosnell to prey on the poor and women of color and on immigrants.
Of course some of the right are trying to use this horrific case to attack all abortion rights, to claim women shouldn't be able to make their own choices about medical procedures that are safe and legal. In fact, House Republicans have already used Gosnell to call for an investigation of clinics all over the country.
But if conservatives succeed in scaling back safe, legal access to abortion, we'll have more Kermit Gosnell's, not less.
Today, the jury reached its verdict. Now, it's up to all of us to make sure women keep the right to control their own bodies.
-- Brad Wilmouth is a news analyst at the Media Research Center
