irritation where applied increased d blood cell count headache, diarrhea, vomiting and increase in psa. ask your doctor about the only underarm low t treatment, axiron. >> the court of common pleas in pennsylvania goes back all of the way to 1776. but you have to wonder if they have ever had a case more horrific than the capital murder trial of the murder of kermit gosnell. a strong viewer warning is in order. the story we are about to tell is grim. the kermit gosnell case is a landmark legal battle about rape and the reality about abortion in america. the details are apauling. they are set out in this 281 page grand jury report that summed up the allegations against gozsnell on page one paragraph one.

quote, quote, he regularly delivered live babies the third trimester of pregnancy and severed the spinal cords by scissors murdering them. something was going on here but no one put a stop to it. several of gosnell's employees testified this happened and some pleaded guilty to murdering babies. as i speak a philadelphia jury has not yet decided the fate of kermit gosnell whose controversial career began a half century ago at the dawn of the abortion rights movement. >> kermit gozsnell was born in philadelphia in 1941 raised in a working class black neighborhood he was a striver. from hid hums humble beginnings he would graduate from philadelphia's jefferson medical college in 1966. the 60s and early 70s were heavy

days for pushing social and political change. kermit gosnell, md fit right in says peter bowyer. >> he was the expression ultimate expression of the civil rights movement. he was also on the edge of an almost radical vain of thought when it came to what he called women's health issues which became a euphemism for the abortion rights movement. >> may 1972 the supreme court had heard arguments and in a historic abortion case but it would be months before the actual roe versus wade decision. one prohibition women's rights group had an outrageous piece of theater they reached out to kermit gosnell who trained at a new york abortion clinic before coming to philadelphia. >> he became consequently involved in this -- one of the

weirdest and darkest episodes in the abortion rights movement. >> an episode that would ultimately become the subject of a u.s. senate hearing on human experimentation. the story begins in chicago where abortion was illegal. the women's group chartered a bus to drive 15 poor pregnant women in their 2nd trimester in philadelphia where abortion laws were ambiguous. there the next day mother's day kermit and the other doctor performed three abortions on all of them with tv cameras rolling. the television footage is lost only newspaper accounts survive. they report that gosnell was using something called a super coil. >> the super coil was an experimental medical device meant to be inserted into the uterus of a woman who is pregnant and gradually as the

coil heated up it would expand and start really lacerating tearing cutting causing bleeding. >> dr. sidney wolf one of the watchdogs was appalled the stunt. >> they were never told this was an experiment never told some of the known dangers about it. doctor gosnell's license should have been yanked then. >> nine of the 15 women suffered complications three ended up in the hospital. the episode became known as the mother's day massacre. when the senate held its hearing a year later gosnell issued a defiant statement casting himself as one doctor who did something for women's health rather than just talk about it. of the mother's day abortions gosnell wrote, quote, it would have been irresponsible not to respond to these women. after row ve versus wade made abortion a constitutional right he would make a career out of performing them even though he

was never certified as an obstetrician or gynecologist. >> he was a failed physician. >> the fox medical a team dr. seigel. >> he didn't make it he would be scrambling trying to put a career together. what do i do? you find a role. if it works for you you keep doing it. >> it worked. before the 70s were over he opened the women's medical society at 38th street and lancaster avenue in west philadelphia complete with the silhouette of a couple swinging a child between them. >> the communities loved dr. gosnell and said he was very respected, up standing member of their community and he was known for his reputation in the community. >> jen thompson made a short film about gosnell called 3801 lancaster. >> we have had people tell us if they had a problem doctor gosnell was the one to go to. >> but his clinic operated on

the vaidshady side from the beginning suggests philadelphia district attorney seth williams. >> the doctor was not a board certified obstetrician or gynecologist. they used the name of another physician who was board certified to open the clinic. >> government health officials didn't seem to care. prosecutor ann pontario. >> if he found the first inspection was in 1978 and good for a year. the second inspection was not done for ten years later in 1989. >> when they inspected they found significant problems like not having licensed nurses on staff. authorities looked the other way. >> in 1993 was the last time for the approval and over 17 years no one set foot in that clinic and no one did any annual inspections and no one went out for myany complaints. >> the grand jury would find one

reason why that happened politics. syndicated columnist fox news contributor kirsten powers. >> they had a meeting under the administration of the new governor tom ridge they decided they did not want to inspect these abortion clinics because it would be putting up a barrier of access to abortion for women. the governor said if they did keen inspections they would find too many violations. >> goz nellsnell's clinic became stunningly profitable. he was taking in 15,000 dollars a night. close to 2 million a year in cash. he kept costs low at his ill equipped clinic with an untrained staff. >> and he had them doing jobs that are for professionals. he had them doing ult soundrasounds. there was a 15-year-old hired to work at the clinic. dr. gosnell gave her a science

textbook which she read for 20 minutes and she became an anesthesiologist. >> another employee went to a caribbean medical school but was never licensed to practice. >> there was a doctor who went to grenada. after the clinic closed he was a tell marketer. >> he wasn't there during the day. he would have the unlicensed staff monitor the women and he would come there at 8:00, 9:00, 10:00 at night and he would have these abortions performed through out the night until 3:00 in the morning. >> that's just the beginning. according to prosecutors in their case against gosnell these women's medical society was much worse than an incompetently run clinic. it was a home to butchery and murder plain and simple after the break.

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>> was kermit gosnell a

courageous crusader who helped women exercise their reproductive rights or an incompetent unethical doctor who found a niche providing abortions to poor desperate women with nowhere else to turn? >> that was the place to go for your a borings. you can -- abortion. you could go without your parent's consent. if you got pregnant within 2 or 3 months you could go back. you were going there to take care of business to handle a situation. >> tyisha says she learned that when she got pregnant at 17 back in the 1990s. she didn't immediately decide to get an abortion but when tyisha's mother found out she convinced her. >> that's the answer to a young teenaged girl finding out that she is pregnant still in high school is to terminate the pregnancy. >> though she was almost 3 months pregnant she took more time to research her options. she said most clinics told her

that an abortion at her stage would be too painful to endure without anesthesia. >> if you are past that 12 weeks you could not get an abortion without the anesthesia and with the anesthesia it costs more money. so the clinic at dr. gosnell said you didn't have to do that. you could still be over certain amount of weeks and still have it done. >> she wam up to the $350 fee. by the time she got it she worried she was so far along even gosnell's c make her buy anesthesia. it didn't. >> they did the son ma'amogram and said he basically was just like you are a little over 12 weeks. i kind of was like a little over in my head i was almost 18 weeks. they prepped me. no counseling or anything.

>> as soon as the procedure began hudson knew the clinic had done her no favor. >> i really felt like a part of my insides ripped. i was asking them do i supposed to be in this much pain? i felt like something was ripping, light literally ripping inside of me. >> it was like torture. >> the doctor is a respoekted obgyn and member of the fox news medical a team. >> people arewere given the option for paying for how much pain-free status they wanted it to be in. image taking your a pen dix without anesthesia. we will take your a pen dix but how much anesthesia are you willing to pay for? >> there was other cause for alarm. in the mid 90s a pediatrician who practiced nearby noticed something troubling. philadelphia prosecutor ann

fontario. >> he is seeing young girls and women move on to the clinic come back with verir nearly diseases. the bloody instrukts were inserted from one woman to the next. the possibility of infection was uncontrollable. >> pennsylvania health officials received this complaint and dozens of others through the decades complaints filed patients gosnell harmed because again prosecutors say no state inspector set foot in his clinic for years. if state officials had done their job would a young mother of two, her name shamika shawl still be alive? >> according to the report shaw died due to a botched abortion by gosnell in 2000. >> he basically cut her adhesives her uterus was perforated part of the placenta

was left in her womb. he butchered her. >> this is sham meek kau's cousin. after they took her home her condition worsened. >> he told her and her other fellow cousins in the same age group not to call if there was a problem because it would be trouble for him. she was rolling on the floor. she was screaming. she was crying. she was gasping for air and she was bleeding profusely. they were afraid to call the clinic. they finally did call the clinic and got no answer no call back. finally her mother came home and took her to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. >> shaw's family sued and said they were stone walled by state officials. >> again, the attorney asked the department of health please give us anything that you can about this facility. the reply this time was, it's not that we can't give it to you.

there are no complaints. >> the department of health top attorney their general counsel asked about why they did not -- when asked why they didn't follow up on complaints her answer was, and i quote, people die. >> the department of public health failed the community, failed my cousin. >> shaws settled for 900,000 dollars one of at least 5 gosnell malpractice cases resulting in $1.7 million payoffs. in 2001 one of gosnell's staffers try flow the whistle on him by calling the pennsylvania secretary of state. >> her name was marcella stanley. she was one of these unlicensed workers who was treated like a doctor. she was put in charge of doing ultrasounds, an nest sizing the patient. she was nervous she was going to kill a woman and she told them everything they needed to know

to shut this man down forever. >> but all that got shut down she said was the investigation. >> it was poseed by the department of safe prosecutor saying prosecution not warranted. >> but the word of gosnell was getting out and that was hurting his business. >> he could not get the referrals. he didn't get many first trimester patients any more and so he changed his model by going with the more expensive late term and illegal abortions. >> many people knew along the atlantic sea board that if i could not get a late term abortion anywhere else you could go to the women's medical society run by doctor gosnell and if you could pay you could get a late term abortion. >> even if you are more than 24 weeks pregnant. though those abortions are illegal in pennsylvania and many

other states. legal or not, doctor manny alvarez say late term abortions are complicated and dangerous. >> many things can go wrong. the chances of bleeding are tremendous. the other complication is the mechanics of removing a fetus of 24 weeks you run the chance of perforating the uterus. you have risk of infection. you have to have the skills the infrastructure, you have to have the healthcare personnel. for people to be doing this out of so-called little private office, it really there's no words to describe the crime. >> unlike the allah cart pricing for anesthesia for short term abortions gosnell insisted late term patients be very heavily is heed dated. -- sedated. >> he didn't like anybody who was loud because he didn't want

to attract police. he said to them med them up. >> mother of three grandmother of one and 18 weeks pregnant. four months earlier she had moved to virginia from nepal. she wanted to end her pregnancy. three local clinics would not perform the abortion but one referred her to the women's medical society. on november 18th, 2009, her friend and daughter drove her to gosnell's clinic. >> this medication should be given 1 every three hours this medication was given every hour on the hour and another drug called restoral to induce sleepiness. she was given dem moreal dose after demerol dose. >> she was a small woman but the two unlicensed helpers who would later be charged with murder did not adjust the medications to

mangar's size. >> she lost all of her vital signs stopped breathing. >> according to grand jury tem when gosnell wouldcould not revive her he went into cover up mode. he didn't call the ambulance for hours and didn't tell the paramedics about the heavy doses of demerol. when they did get a pulse gosnell couldn't find the keys to the padlock emergency exit. >> ms. mongar's survival chances were hampered by the fact it took paramedics 20 minutes to get the door open. >> she was pronounced dead at the hospital. even after all of that the health department declined to send investigators to the clinic. and pontario says if they had they might have made yet another shocking discovery evidence of the gospel's clinic's most horrifying practice of all. >> dr. gosnell wasn't even performing abortion procedures.

these babies were born and they were born alive and they were killed. >> when fox news reporting continues after the break. ♪ ♪ don't our dogs deserve to eat fresher less processed foods introducing freshpet recipes so fresh the only preservative we use is the fridge freshpet fresh food for fido

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>> bret: >> you heard about the harm some women suffered at dr. gosnell's women's medical society. those deaths all unintentional. not so witnesses say in the case of babies born alive in the clinic. >> he was introducing labor and having these women deliver babies and deliver fetuses. the women testified that these lives were taken it wasn't a traditional type of abortion procedure.

they were drugged up birth would be induced once the baby left the mother's body taking its first breath at that point that's how this doctor elected to kill these babies. >> he had a process that he referred to as snipping. that the children would be born alive and that they would then take siz cissors and place them at the base of the skull and snip or severe the spinal cord of those children that were born alive. >> this is a very very painful thing. some of these babies did not die immediately. >> those aren't botched abortions that's homicide. the reason he was doing this is because he had 46 lawsuits and he was paying up money for women who remained mutilated. it was easier to deliver a baby where they go in there and-- rather than go in there and extract it himself. >> they heard that from a grenada med school grad who

worked $300 a week as medical resident. >> while the fetus would precipitate. >> what do you mean. >> come right out. i would have to go tend to that patient. >> what would you do? >> i would make sure that the cord was cut. also a standard procedure the cervical spine was cut. >> how often did this happen? many times more than i really care to remember. i would have to say every week it would happen to at least 50% of the patients. >> and there was testimony given to the grand jury that this >> there was testimony this process of snipping happened hundreds of times. >> one of goz nell's assistants testified that at one point gosnell told her the law had changed and he couldn't snip baby's necks any more so gosnell tried injecting a drug called digoxin to kill the fetus's heart in the womb.

gosnell couldn't do it right cross testified. >> he tried to put the needle in the stomach and that's what was supposed to kill the babies before it came out. he didn't he would say the law says i could do it i can still split the baby's neck because it didn't work the needle didn't work. >> according to cross and others the needle never worked so the grand jury found that gosnell stopped trying it all together and reverted to his old system of killing babies after they were born. >> i think there's a lot of evidence here that it didn't matter to this doctor one bit whether he killed a fetus inside the womb or outside of the womb. as a matter of fact it is clear his late term abortions he was using medications to dope up the patient and try to get the baby out and kill it outside the bomb. >> the babies allegedly born alive never got names. the grand jury would refer to some by letters starting with baby boy a.

>> baby boy a is born and they are so alarmed at the size arched devil -- and development they took photographs because they were horrified this was something that was terribly wrong that was happening there and they knew it. >> gosnell's sonogram records say the mother was 29.4 weeks pregnant that's well beyond the legal limit for abortion in pennsylvania. a prosecution expert who looked at the pictures concluded baby boy a was at least 3 two weeks in the womb. >> a 30 week fetus has an over 80 percent chance of surviving. i have delivered babies at 24 weeks and now they come and see me and they are high school students students. so 30 weeks sfwh come on. >> mccross told the jury baby

boy a was breathing when she saw doctor gosnell quote slit his neck and put the body in a shoe box too small to hold him. >> the horrifying testimony was doctor gosnell stated this baby boy was big enough to take and walk him to the bus stop. >> the body of baby boy b would be found in gosnell's freezer. >> baby boy b 28 weeks old at an age when babies can feel found frozen in the water got el with the evidence of the spine being snipped from behind the vertebrae penetrated something that would cause great pain. >> there was only one defect the examiner testified out of the beautiful baby boy you saw there in the photo and it was the slit to the back of the neck and the testimony was that scissors were put through and perforated

through that area to cut the spinal cord and kill the baby. >> based on the grand jury report not all of the killing was done by gosnell himself. cross testified she witnessed linda williams another unlicensed gosnell assistant murder a baby baby c who had been breathing and moving for 20 minutes. >> williams called cross over to take a look at the baby. when miss cross said why do you think miss williams killed a baby that was alive and breathing and moving for 20 minutes, she said i guess because she had seen dr. gosnell do it so many times. >> some deliveries did not happen on an operating table. >> there were women who because they were given so much medication they were going to the bathroom and they would deliver babies into the toilet. >> the later stages of a pregnancy the only thing holding a baby in place is often a tight

cervix cervix but a drug relaxes the cervix so a woman can be literally sitting in the bathroom and deliver a baby. that's a live birth. >> when baby d, 10-15 inches long was delivered in the toilet gosnell's assistantover. >> moten reached in the woman was trying to save the life of the baby grab the baby and severe his neck. >> she dee lived a baby a good 10 times according to testimony others just watched and did nothing. >> baby e is a baby ashley baldwin one of the witnesses testified she saw in the procedure room she heard the baby whining making crying noises, the baby was alive when the doctor came out of the room the baby was dead. she saw the baby thrown in the trash like garbage by doctor

gosnell. >> have you ever seen a more roar movie where you hear a baby crying in the room and the murderer goes into the room and the baby stops crying that's baby e. >> masof testified he personally cut the necks of multiple babies and assisted when gosnell snipped the necks of live babies f and g. baby g is the last murder victim named the grand jury. the panel believes gosnell killed many more babies outside of the sight of his compliant staff. >> we know dr. gosnell would perform the latest of late term abortions on sundays when none of his other staff members were present. only ep and his wife couldwould come in at night and we would have no way of accurately term determining beyond a reasonable doubt how many children met their demise

as a result of these late term abortions on sunday. >> despite gosnell's alleged steps to avoid detection it is hard to believe sooner or later his enterprise would not be found out. but it took 31 years. and not for the reason you would think. that story when we return. >> to order a copy of this and other fox news specials on dvd go to www.foxnews.com/special. a help transform my mouth. [ male announcer ] go pro. for a clean that's up to four times better try these crest pro-health products together. [ sara ] i've been using crest pro-health. so far...it feels different. [ male announcer ] crest pro-health protects not just some but all these areas dentists check most. my mouth feels healthier. it feels cleaner. i think my dentist is gonna see the difference. [ male announcer ] go pro with crest pro-health. i don't think i'll ever go back to another product. see.

>> bret: thetruthisitwasn'tthe a thetruthisitwasn'tthea thetruthisitwasn'ttheabortionsthatfinneyeddr. gosnell 'scareeritwasthedrugs. theclinicwasanabortionmillat nig theclinicwasanabortionmillatnig htbut authorities say he was up to no good during the day as well. they raided the clinic because they believed it was a pill mill that illegally sold

prescriptions for powerful pain killers and other medicines. >> the search is a >> the search was an investigation into a massive illegal drug selling operation involving prescriptions for ox cotton and other narcotics. >> the fbi and dea led the raid on february 13th, 2010. >> they thought they would find a normal clinic that allowed this doctor to make so much money for so many people to get illegal prescriptions for narcotics. what they discovered was a horrific, almost out of one of the worst movies or horror novels that you could image. >> officials from the pennsylvania department of health and department of state came along. according to the grand jury report it was their first visit to the clinic in more than 15 years. >> instead of just seeing pills they saw blood. bloodstained walls, urine on the walls feces, inif he is festationinfestation.

>> they found medical waste bags strewn every where in this clinic. they also found a refrigerator where the employees kept their lunch. >> the bed this bags filled with fetal remains. they found jar after jar after jar filled with fetal remains and specifically severed feet in jars. >> it just completely overwhelming. you don't know how to process something like that. >> at age 16 desiree manning, now desiree hawkings of west virginia went to gosnell's abortion clinic in 2009. she learned just this year he had cut off the foot of her child and saved it. hawkins also learned that gosnell lied to her about the age of her baby. he said she was far less than 21 weeks. >> i was actually 23 weeks and 4 days. i had already considered the

possibility he slit my kid. >> they recovered the remains of 45 fetuses and he admitted 10-20 percent were probably older than 24 weeks, the legal cutoff. baby boy b was one of two the prosecution claims were medically confirmed to have viable. they also found women, dazed women. >> they were almost stuperous. these women were jammed into a room where they are all there together some of them were bleeding. so the department of health they called and told the detectives call for an ambulance. >> at the same time they searched gosnell's house and found patient files almost a quarter million dollars in cash and a gun. the state and local authorities that had ignored gosnell's abortion mill for more than a generation now swung into action. february 22nd, 2010, the board of medicine suspended gosnell's

medical license. march 12th the department of health began the process of shutting down the clinic. may 4th the philadelphia da submitted the case to a grand jury. for more than six months the grand jury reviewed thousands of pieces of evidence and heard testimony from 58 witnesses before releasing a 281 page report. >> presents one count of third degree murder against goz nell and -- gosnell and his associates for killing mongar and intentional killing of viable babies born alive. >> the da charged gosnell with only 7 murders if the allegations of the grand jury are true he could be guilty of hundreds of pre-meditated killings more than any other mass murderer or serial killer. the prosecution filed notice it

might seek the death penalty. >> i really had seen a great deal of the city because i have lived through negative publicity before. >> gosnell insisted he was national correspondent innocent of any crimes. >> you are not really attempting to do something. i think my patients are aware i do my very best. >> it was as if he was saying that's my job. i am being charged with killing these babies that's why they came to me. >> nine of gosnell's employees were also charged. three pleaded guilty to an assortment of crimes perjury racketeering corrupting a minor and conspiracy. corie west pleaded guilty to third degree murder in the death of mongar. others admitted to the deaths of

bodies. one admitted to snipping babies f and g. he pleaded guilty to among other charges 3rd degree murder. williams admitted she snipped baby c's death after the infant was born alive. she pleaded guilty to third degree murder. adrien moten pleaded guilty to third degree murder and other charges. pearl gosnell, doctor gosnell life pleaded guilty to illegal late term abortion and conspiracy. she would not testify against her husband. the others would testify at trial to what they saw and what they did. horrible crimes. no longer alleged but admitted. >> actual people that worked under the employ of dr. gosnell

admitted they murdered babies as part of the regular routine practice of what was going on in that shop of horrors. so this isn't speculation. this isn't a theory by the prosecution this is real and it's murder. >> the remaining question was whether a jury would find gosnell himself guilty of any of the killings. he pleaded not guilty to murder and a long list of lesser charges that included conspiracy, illegal late term abortions. his employees eileen o'neil would stand charges with him on theft deception and racketeering. a jury was i am panelmpanelled including 8 men and 9 women. jack mcmahon told them the case was a prosecutorial lynching and referring to gosnell, quote this black man is being taken because of who he is and where he works.

mcmahon said gosnell's clinic had a lower than average complication rate and repeat business as well. and he said the prosecution was elitist. quote, they want to put myo clinayo clinic standards on a west philadelphia clinic. >> explosive charges. would the jury be convinced? fox news reporting continues after the break. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] from the way the bristles move to the way they clean, once you try an oral-b deep sweep power brush, you'll never go back to a regular manual brush. its three cleaning zones with dynamic power bristles reach between teeth with more brush movements to remove up to 100% more plaque than a regular manual brush. and even 76% more plaque than sonicare flexcare in hard to reach areas. oral-b deep sweep 5000 power brush. life opens up when you do.

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>> returning to our story the jury heard how the lawyers frame the kermit gosnell case. the prosecution says the doctor is a murderer he made a practice of delivering live babies and killing them in cold blood. the defense says it's a racist prosecution of an inner city doctor doing his best for four women with nowhere else to turn. now the jury would hear from

people who actually worked in the clinic. what they saw and what they did. >> march 18th began a five week parade of witnesses for the prosecution to peter bowyer the trial testimony led to new dimension of horrifying allegations of the grand jury report. >> the firs employee to testify was adrien moten. she told the court that she had snipped the spines of ten babies who had been born alive. she did these things and was asked was that murder did you consider it wrong in she said at first i didn't. >> the testimony captured for the german philosopher talking about the holocaust the benality of evil.

>> there was another employer who gave her testimony, linda williams, she talked about the snipping of the spinal cord she was asked, did you have any awareness that this was murder she told the jury i only do what i am told to do. what i was told to do was snip their neck. >> this was some of the most horrifying testimony that i ever sat through in a courtroom. >> kimberly guilfoyle is a former sex crime prosecutor. i looked into the eyes of those jurors i am wondering how they are ever going to be able to get this out of their head. these photos are blown up of these big full term essentially babies. you see life there. >> in pros examination gosnell's lawyer jack mcmahon tried to undermine the prosecution's case count by count. he painted some witnesses as disgruntled employees. he suggested the prosecution used threats of the death penalty and long prison terms to get clinic workers to plead

guilty to crimes they didn't commit. >> he said all of the babies gosnell was charged with killing were already dead or at best doomed because he injected them with a drug to stop their hearts. he scored his biggest point during the testimony about baby boy b. a baby the prosecution alleges who was born alive at 28 weeks then killed by gosnell and placed in his freezer. >> the defense attorney mr. mcmahon got up and he has a very booming voice and he moved around and circled right in front of the jury to show he wasn't afraid of the photos and questioned the chief medical examiner, can you say with a reasonable degree of medical certainty that this baby was born alive? the wents said no i cannot. >> with that testimony on a defense motion the judge himself

acquitted gosnell of the murder of baby boy b. he also through out the murder charges relating to babies f and g. the judge did not explain his ruling but fox news medical expert dr. mark seigel says the judge is wrong if he based the ruling on the fact that those babies had been observed moving but not necessarily moving. >> there may be debate wherether life begins at conception. there's no doubt if a baby is boeed to use a resperate tore to keep breathing that's life. >> they knocked out 7 of 3 of the 7 murder charges before they began their case that was scheduled to begin wednesday april 24th. when court went into session that morning another bombshell. the defense rested without calling a single witness. no medical experts, no clinic

employees no satisfied patients, no gosnell himself. >> it was a high risk move. kermit gosnell's attorney was gambling the doctor's life on a closing argument. a closing argument that would reignite the explosive charges made at the outset of the trial that his client was a victim of a racist elitist prosecutor who refused to acknowledge the realities of abortion in america after the break. [ male announcer ] when you wear dentures you may not know that your mouth is under attack, from food particles and bacteria. try fixodent. it helps create a food seal defense for a clean mouth and kills bacteria for fresh breath. ♪ ♪ fixodent, and forget it.

>> now the conclusion to our story. it's been more than two years since the allegations were leveled at doctor kermit gosnell and nearly two months since his trial started. it was time to finally come to terms with what did or did not happen in his west philadelphia abortion clinic for the jury and for the layings as well. >> when it started something odd happened or to be more precise didn't have it. seats reserved for the media were empty. >> we have mainstream media who likes to cover reproductive rights or abortion very

thoroughly. but generally the trial was ignored. >> columnist kirsten powers was appalled and wrote a usa today piece saying so. >> you would have been following activist rights and laws from the right or left or local philadelphia news if you wanted to know anything about this. >> dr. kermit gosnell -- >> in the same way there's policy implications like a mass shooting in newtown there are serious implications about what happened at this abortion clinic. i was quite shocked that i had not heard anything about this. >> with so little press attention most americans had never heard of the gosnell case. according to a fox news poll of those who were following the trial a majority attributed the back of news coverage to media bias. far fewer figured it was just a local story or two gruesome to tell. if americans know what happened

in gosnell's clinic many more would oppose legalized abortion. but some pro choicers believe just the opposite. >> the story teaches us about where america is and what they are doing to women. >> the state senator thinks if americans know what happened in gosnell's clinic they will be more likely to support policies that will give poor women more access to better abortion services. >> no one is defending what gosnell did no one is defending his practices no one is defending this practice. >> they would offer a defense of what they said their client really did in his clinic. the jury would hear it in the trial's closing arguments. the media would hear it too. it is worth knowing when jack mcmahon gosnell's lawyers stood up to seek the press section of the courtroom was packed.

fox news editor at large peter bowyer was there. >> gosnell's attorney asserted it was an elitist and racist prosecution. he said his client had been singled out because he was an african american providing abortion services in an urban community. >> he did a lot more than just play the race card. >> doctor gosnell's attorney told the jury you are not here to decide whether or not abortion is pretty it's not pretty it's bloody and real. almost like the jack nicholson in a few good men. this is abortion this is what it looks like. i am providing services to for people and-- poor people and you can't handle the truth. >> the prosecution went through its case against gosnell more than 250 criminal counts racketeering, performing abortions without a waiting period. performing illegal late term abortions. third degree murder of mongal

and in the deaths of baby boy a, and baby c, d and e, four counts of murder in the first degree. a grim catalog of innocent lives callously terminated as a matter of routine. the judge reminded the jurors that their duty was to discover the truth and they began their deliberations. in their hands the life of dr. kermit gosnell and it might be said the conscience of the nation. wednesday passed. no verdict. thursday, no verdict. the deliberations continued. regardless of your view of gosnell himself, this trial had by the end become less about the fate of one man and more about a turning point in the most enduring and emotional debate in recent american history. whether you are pro-life or pro choice or simply not sure the case of kermit gosnell provide

our society with the reality check. gosnell's abortion clinic did exist under the benign neglect of authorities. how did this happen? how should we go forward? this case won't be the end of the abortion debate but it may help clarify it. that is our show for tonight. i am bret baier. thank you for watching fox news-- "fox news reporting." to order a copy of this a and other fox news reporting specials on this is america. we don't let frequent heartburn come between us and what we love. so if you're one of them people who gets heartburn and then treats day afr day... block the acid with prilosec otc and don't get heartburn in the first place! [ male announcer ] e pill eachmorning. 24 hours. zero heartbur

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it. we will see you tomorrow. john: and they're off. south dakota an early lead. in which state our people freest? >> new hampshire is looking especially coveted. john: laboratories of democracy.

states can battle over smoking weed. >> should the federal government telling you what to put in your body? >> no. >> this is what democracy looks like. john: whether you can be forced to join a union. the battle over how much money you must give to government. >> indiana and delaware are rocketing. john: which strangles freedom?