Family Research Council calls for legislative action and increased oversight of abortion clinics

Family Research Council is demanding answers, increased oversight and legislative action in the wake of the arrest of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortionist charged with eight counts of murder, including a patient and seven newborn infants.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins made the following comments:

"Dr. Kermit Gosnell's grisly practice of killing infants and tormenting women will stand as one of the most horrific discoveries in Pennsylvania state history. This millionaire doctor raked in $15,000 a day – more than enough money to afford clean equipment and a trained staff. But, like so much of the abortion industry, his business wasn't about caring for women or vaccinating children. It was about profit.

"Now allegations are being made by the federal grand jury that Dr. Gosnell defrauded a federal vaccine program by counting 'abortion patients as vaccination patients.'

"Who knows how many other operations are out there, piling up tiny bodies in freezers while women lie helpless in their own blood? How many other abortion clinic operators are committing fraud to grow their own profit margins?

"A question that must be answered is: Why did the Philadelphia Health Department only investigate Dr. Gosnell once since 1993?

"We urge Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett and the state legislature to investigate and enact a law to improve the conditions and oversight of abortion facilities. If we cannot accept sub-standard care that would jeopardize women's health in other areas, such as post-natal care, we cannot accept it from abortion clinics.

"This atrocity, and the callousness of abortion doctors in general, underscores why federal taxpayers should not pay for abortion as was approved under the President's health care law. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services approved Pennsylvania's plan to fund abortion under the new high risk pool program created by Mr. Obama's plan, only to reverse course after the abortion coverage became public.

"The American people should not be forced to pay for abortion, which is why it's necessary for Congress to pass the 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act' and restore neutrality on government funding of abortion," concluded Perkins.