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<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\nFor retired Detective James Wood, who had discovered the babies\u2019 bodies stored in a freezer at Gosnell\u2019s facility, the occasion \u2014 his first visit to the grave \u2014 was both \u201cspecial\u201d and \u201csurreal.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen we discovered the babies, at first I just felt, \u2018I can\u2019t believe this is normalized,’\u201d Wood said. \u201cI could only imagine the thousands of babies that he had killed and disposed of this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
A wreath of 47 roses for Gosnell victims<\/h3>\n
After the late morning liturgy at St. Bridget Church in Philadelphia, participants drove in procession to the city\u2019s historic Laurel Hill East Cemetery, laying 47 roses in a wreath-like circle on the unmarked grave where the children are buried.<\/p>\n
The commemoration was among several held nationwide in recent weeks to mark the National Day of Remembrance for Aborted Children. Officially observed this year on Sept. 12, the date of local gatherings can be adjusted to accommodate participants\u2019 schedules, particularly those of clergy, said Laura Gies, a Philadelphia-area pro-life advocate who organized the Nov. 2 event.<\/p>\n
Gies said this year\u2019s commemoration was at least her fifth, continuing the efforts of earlier memorial organizers.<\/p>\n
Kneeling on the grass at the gravesite, Gies sang \u201cIsaiah 49,\u201d a hymn by Carey Landry and Carol Jean Kinghorn-Landry, the chorus of which quotes Is 49:15: \u201cI will never forget you.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group held a moment of silence, with prayers offered for the children, their families and women who have had abortions.<\/p>\n
A \u2018baby charnel house\u2019<\/h3>\n
Participants also prayed for the soul of Gosnell, who died March 1 at age 85 in a Huntingdon, Pennsylvania, correctional facility, while serving multiple sentences for first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter and drug charges.<\/p>\n
For decades, Gosnell had operated what a grand jury report later called a \u201cbaby charnel house,\u201d performing late-term abortions amid medical and animal waste for a steady stream of low-income clients, most of them Black or Asian.<\/p>\n
Gosnell would often complete the abortions by severing babies\u2019 spinal cords with scissors, a practice he described as \u201csnipping\u201d to \u201censure fetal demise.\u201d Often failing to pay for authorized disposal, he stored partial and intact infant remains throughout the facility.<\/p>\n
In 2010, Wood \u2014 then part of the Philadelphia District Attorney\u2019s narcotics investigations unit \u2014 began tracking a pill mill that Gosnell was operating out of his Women\u2019s Medical Center in the city\u2019s western section. Wood and his team closed in, and unwittingly stumbled upon what a grand jury report called a \u201cbaby charnel house\u201d operated by Gosnell.<\/p>\n
Father Rayford Emmons, a retired Philadelphia priest who celebrated the Nov. 2 Mass for the 47 babies, said he had prayed in front of Gosnell\u2019s clinic while it was still open \u2014 when, as Bishop Coffey noted, the late abortionist\u2019s practice was largely \u201cunder the radar\u201d in terms of public awareness.<\/p>\n
After authorities exposed Gosnell\u2019s crimes \u2014 which included the death of 41-year-old Bhutan refugee Karnamaya Mongar, who received a fatal dose of Demerol at the clinic \u2014 the scale of the horrors \u201cdidn\u2019t really surprise anybody,\u201d since pro-life groups had long drawn attention to the facility, said Father Emmons.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur question was, \u2018How many other places were doing exactly the same thing?’\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Angels of change<\/h3>\n
Wood said that \u201cseeing Karnamaya Mongar\u2019s baby through that plastic bag\u201d during the 2010 raid on the Gosnell\u2019s clinic \u201chit my heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI could only imagine the thousands of babies that he had killed and disposed of this way,\u201d said Wood.<\/p>\n
In May 2013, Gosnell was found guilty of first-degree murder in the deaths of three babies, involuntary manslaughter in Mongar\u2019s death, and 229 violations of Pennsylvania abortion regulations.<\/p>\n
Following Gosnell\u2019s 2013 convictions on those charges, the Philadelphia medical examiner\u2019s office interred the aborted babies\u2019 remains at Laurel Hill.<\/p>\n
Sixteen years after discovering their bodies, Wood \u2014 who throughout his law enforcement career has drawn on his deeply held Catholic faith \u2014 reflected on what he would tell the deceased children.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would say, \u2018I\u2019m sorry for what happened to you. I wish your parents would have made a different decision,’\u201d Wood said.<\/p>\n
And, he added, \u201cI would tell them, \u2018You can come and help us as angels to change things in this world that we live in today.’\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2013 \u2013 \u2013
Gina Christian is a multimedia reporter for OSV News. Follow her on X @GinaJesseReina.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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