Independent journalist Ann McElhinney announced on her Substack the death of the infamous Philadelphia abortionist Kermit Gosnell, who was convicted in 2013 on seven counts of first-degree murder for the infants he killed, and one count of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 41-year-old Bhutan refugee named Karnamaya Mongar. Mongar came in for a late-term abortion, but was administered a lethal overdose of anesthesia by one of the unlicensed staff members of Gosnell's "House of Horrors."
McElhinney reported, "She died in a house of horrors where cats walked the corridors and lifesaving equipment was broken, severely rusted or just nonexistent."
Gosnell was still serving a life sentence for those crimes, but was reportedly in failing health. He died on March 1 in a hospital outside of the prison system.
BREAKING 🚨🚨
— Ann McElhinney 🧡 (@annmcelhinney) March 23, 2026
Kermit Gosnell, the abortion doctor who is thought to have murdered thousands of babies in a 30 year killing spree, has died in prison.
We covered the Gosnell trial in Philadelphia, interviewed him in prison and had dozens of phone calls with the serial killer as… pic.twitter.com/gqQYrQPGVR
Kermit Gosnell, the abortion doctor who is thought to have murdered thousands of babies in a 30 year killing spree, has died in prison.
We covered the Gosnell trial in Philadelphia, interviewed him in prison and had dozens of phone calls with the serial killer as part of our research for the book, podcast and movie we made about the case.
He was a chilling monster who could sometimes come across as charming.
In Gosnell’s 30 years of running his filthy abortion clinic in Philadelphia, it is thought that he murdered thousands of babies born alive. The grand jury which investigated his case wanted to charge him with 200 recent murders but the move was stymied and reduced to just seven after pressure from senior political and law enforcement officials.
McElhinney and fellow journalist Phelim McAleer said of Gosnell:
He was a chilling monster who could sometimes come across as charming. Gosnell liked to portray himself as affable, a humanitarian even, but the mask slipped when he was challenged or caught in a lie.
And he lied a lot.
Gosnell seemed unfazed by his crimes. He claimed he was innocent and that he would eventually be exonerated. Gosnell also seemed to take pleasure in remembering his time as a killer. He would often smile and smirk as he defended the death and destruction at his clinic.
That is probably the closest to watching someone whose conscience is seared. In a statement McElhinney released surrounding Gosnell's death, she said:
“It was tough but it was a very, very important piece of journalism. Meeting Gosnell was one of the few times in my journalism career that I felt I was face to face with evil.
"Gosnell is gone, but we should take time to think of the thousands of innocent babies who were his victims. They lived for a short period of time but must not be forgotten. They achieved some measure of justice with Gosnell’s prosecution and incarceration."
For over 30 years, Gosnell was allowed to murder thousands of babies, as well as mothers, yet skirted accountability for his malpractice and crimes. For the late-term abortions, Gosnell would allow the babies to be born alive, then sever their spinal cord and watch them suffer in pain before they passed. Then, he stuffed some of those fully formed fetuses into jars, Tupperware containers, and milk cartons. Gosnell was able to live to the ripe old age of 85, in relative comfort, despite being imprisoned. Gosnell was probably given palliative care to ease his passing. In fact, up to his last breath, Gosnell received more mercy than he showed his victims. According to McElhinney and McAleer, Gosnell was unrepentant even after being imprisoned. So, divine justice has now taken over, and I am thankful for that.
Pennsylvania Department of Corrections spokesperson Maria Bivens said Gosnell died March 1 at a hospital outside the prison system. He had most recently been incarcerated at the State Correctional Institution-Smithfield, about 60 miles south of Pittsburgh. A cause of death was not disclosed.
Gosnell was serving a life sentence for first-degree murder of the newborns as well as involuntary manslaughter in the drug overdose death of a patient who had undergone an abortion at his West Philadelphia clinic known as the “house of horrors.”
Nearly a decade before the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the Gosnell case became a flashpoint in the nationwide debate over abortion.
Gosnell's crimes, the exposure of them, and the trial didn't just amp up the debate over abortion, but late-term abortion in particular. Killing a perfectly viable and fully-formed baby used to be considered horrific, and McElhinney believes it was the images of Baby Boy A, who was born alive, then lived for an hour before Gosnell snuffed out his life, that turned the tide of the case, and why the jury ultimately convicted him.
I think in particular of Baby Boy A, who was so big that even Gosnell’s workers were shocked by the barbarity of his killing and took a photo of him after he was murdered. He shook their hardened hearts. Baby Boy A lived for about an hour before he was killed. The picture of him curled up in a [T]upperware container helped seal Gosnell’s fate and ensured he’d never kill again. That heartbreaking picture has also meant that I’m not the only one who will never forget Baby Boy A.
Over 25 years later, states in the U.S. are codifying abortion until birth (and even after) into their constitutions, while women post to TikTok proudly shouting about their baby murders. Now killing your baby is as easy as getting pills mailed to you from anywhere in the U.S. or overseas without the need for a doctor's prescription or care.
Despite the overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022, we have fallen very far. The Gosnell House of Horrors was no doubt an inflection point.
Dive Deeper: Why Aren't American Feminists Celebrating Freedom of Iranian Women? Answer: Look at Their Priorities
Abortion Pill Now Accounts for Most U.S. Abortions. Hawley Wants It Off the Market.
An even more pivotal flashpoint is how the legacy media all but ignored the horror story, pushing it off as a local matter, until they were shamed into covering it.
Gosnell’s case became an international news story after the US mainstream media failed to cover the trial - leading to one of the first “Twitter storms”.
Conservatives were outraged by the mainstream media failure to cover the story and the name Gosnell trended on Twitter for weeks before media organisations were shamed and forced to turn up. Several liberal journalists admitted they had been reluctant to write about the case because it clashed with their pro-choice beliefs and because they were reluctant to shine a negative light on abortion.
Reminder that the mainstream media had to essentially be cyberbullied into covering the 2013 Kermit Gosnell trial after refusing to do so for weeks to protect the abortion industry.
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) March 23, 2026
His crimes were so shockingly evil, but the only thing that finally got the media to cover it was… https://t.co/81mqjOXyln pic.twitter.com/gAf1ZHi7fq
Reminder that the mainstream media had to essentially be cyberbullied into covering the 2013 Kermit Gosnell trial after refusing to do so for weeks to protect the abortion industry.
His crimes were so shockingly evil, but the only thing that finally got the media to cover it was the backlash after a Philly blogger posted this picture of the coutroom's empty press gallery.
The Federalist's Mollie Hemingway wrote a piece on the religious blog Patheos, rightly calling it what it was: the "Gosnell cover-up."
The picture above, for what it’s worth, is of the reserved media seats at the Gosnell trial. It was taken by JD Mullane, a news writer and columnist for the Bucks County Courier Times, The Intel and the Burlington County (NJ) Times. He says:
Sat through a full day of testimony at the Kermitt Gosnell trial today. It is beyond the most morbid Hollywood horror. It will change you.
I was surprised by the picture and asked “really?” He responded “Local press was there, Inky, PhillyMag, NBC10 blogger. Court staff told me nobody else has shown up.”
The Gosnell House of Horrors and the legacy media's terrible response to this evil are why pregnancy centers and pro-life organizations still show up for unborn babies and women, and still fight for every life.
The abortion industry today STILL fights health/safety standards, inspections, & transparency.
— SBA Pro-Life America (@sbaprolife) March 23, 2026
Babies are STILL born alive after botched abortions and left to die without care in too many states. We need this to change NOW. This horror echoes in the DC 5 -- five late-term babies…
The abortion industry today STILL fights health/safety standards, inspections, & transparency.
Babies are STILL born alive after botched abortions and left to die without care in too many states. We need this to change NOW.
This horror echoes in the DC 5 -- five late-term babies recovered in 2022 from Washington Surgi-Clinic in D.C. They showed signs of partial-birth abortion/infanticide: viable, born alive and killed. The Biden DOJ refused to investigate.
We may have forgotten the horror in Philadelphia, but that evil exists still, working to snuff out life and normalize and embed death into every aspect of our culture.
"Open your mouth for those with no voice, for the cause of all the dispossessed." Proverbs 31:8
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