‘Infant beheadings, severed baby feet,’ but media still ignoring Gosnell trial

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PHILADELPHIA, April 11, 2013 (LifeSiteNews.com) – It’s gruesome. It’s dramatic. It’s arguably the abortion-related story of the decade.

It's the murder trial of “House of Horrors” abortionist Kermit Gosnell. And the mainstream media is almost completely ignoring it. 

But cracks are beginning to show in what pro-life activists argue can only plausibly be explained as a deliberate blackout by a largely pro-abortion media of one of the biggest stories of 2013.

Recently 21 leaders in the pro-life and conservative movements signed a statement denouncing national broadcast networks ABC, CBS, and NBC for failing to give so much as a nod to the Gosnell trial.

Now they have been joined by a U.S. Congressman and a leading feminist columnist.

In a statement on the House floor today, Rep. Scott Perry, R-PA, slammed President Obama and the media for turning a blind eye to Gosnell’s alleged misdeeds.

“Mr. President, your silence is deafening,” Rep. Perry said today, according to The Hill. “Are you so blind, are you so intractable, are you so extreme that you yourself can't even call this out for what it is, something that is reprehensible? Pro-life or pro-choice, this is reprehensible.

“It is worthy of your attention,” he said. “It is worthy of your leadership. It is worthy of your direction.”

“The media doesn't want to talk about it,” Perry added. “Not NBC, CBS, ABC, CNBC, not Fox, and not the leaders of our nation, not the president.” 

“It gives me great pain and sorrow to have this entered and read into the record,” Perry concluded. “But since the media outlets refuse to cover this because it's uncomfortable, because it might not meet with their agenda, and because many of the leaders of this country refuse to discuss it, I think it's important that we have it read into the record, so that this history and their stories don't remain untold.”

Fox News analyst and Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers, who is a liberal and feminist, also added her voice today to those who have called out the media for downplaying the Gosnell trial despite its evident newsworthiness.

Infant beheadings. Severed baby feet in jars. A child screaming after it was delivered alive during an abortion procedure. Haven't heard about these sickening accusations?,” asked Powers in the opening to her column, published on USAToday

“It's not your fault,” she added. “Since the murder trial of Pennsylvania abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell began March 18, there has been precious little coverage of the case that should be on every news show and front page.” 

“Let me state the obvious. This should be front page news. When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria. … Yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed — a major human rights story if there ever was one — doesn't make the cut.” 

Powers concluded: “You don't have to oppose abortion rights to find late-term abortion abhorrent or to find the Gosnell trial eminently newsworthy. This is not about being ‘pro-choice’ or ‘pro-life.’ It's about basic human rights.

“The deafening silence of too much of the media, once a force for justice in America, is a disgrace.” 

Gosnell stands accused of murdering seven newborn babies by “snipping” their spinal cords. He is also charged with murdering one of his clients, who died after an overdose of anesthesia. 

Testimony in the case has been ongoing for the past two weeks, and has featured several of Gosnell’s former employees giving gruesome details about the conditions at what has been dubbed Gosnell’s “House of Horrors” clinic, including the routine practice of severing the spinal cords of hundreds of newborn babies.

One former employee described Gosnell's method of “abortion” as “literally a beheading.” He also testified: “It would rain fetuses. Fetuses and blood all over the place.”

But despite the dramatic testimony, coverage has been isolated mostly to a small number of mostly local or smaller conservative outlets.

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