A judge has thrown out some of the murder charges against a Philadelphia abortion provider involving babies allegedly born alive.
Common pleas court judge Jeffrey Minehart dismissed three first-degree murder charges Tuesday against Dr. Kermit Gosnell. Minehart has not explained the reasoning behind his ruling.
Prosecutors have argued that the babies were viable and Gosnell and his staff cut them in the back of the neck to kill them.
Defense lawyer Jack McMahon had argued Tuesday "there is not one piece ... of objective, scientific evidence that anyone was born alive" at Gosnell's clinic.
Gosnell still faces charges that he killed a patient and four other babies allegedly born alive.
Now you know if this guy had been accused of killing seven animals, he would have already convicted. There was testimony from people who used to work with Gosnell that these babies were born alive. This is an outrage, but not a surprise given the 55 million babies who have already died and a nation that no longer regards God as the source of all life.
I'm Cal Thomas in Washington.
Publication date: April 24, 2013
