A doctor that stands accused of performing late-term abortions in which he severed the spinal cords of newborns if they were born alive during the procedure, has pleaded not guilty to murdering seven babies as reported by CNN News.
The doctor is also accused of murdering one pregnant woman that died during a botched abortion.
Dr. K.G., 72, allegedly performed abortions past the legal 24-week limit. In one instance he performed an abortion on a woman that was 8 months pregnant.
Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said, "A doctor who cuts into the necks severing the spinal cords of living, breathing babies, who would survive with proper medical attention, is committing murder under the law."
Williams said that a grand jury investigated and learned that health and licensing officials had received many reports about Dr. K.G.'s medical practices – who has been a doctor for 20 years – but failed to take any action.
In 2011 William J. Brennan, K.G.'s attorney, said that Dr. K.G. "should enjoy the same presumption of innocence anyone in this country, you or me, should get if we were charged with a crime."
K.G. is charged with a total of eight murder counts. Seven involve the death of babies; the eighth is in regards to a woman that died during a second-trimester abortion – she succumbed from an anesthetic overdose.
In 2011 Williams told reporters, "It was a house of horrors beyond any type of definition or explanation I can humbly try to give. And it's very sad for the women that were there, that were subjected to such horrific and barbaric -- I would say medical treatment, but it wasn't medical treatment."
Others that worked in the same west Philadelphia medical office, the Women's Medical Society, have entered guilty pleas to related charges.
The practice met the demands of a large number of low-income minority women in the community for several years.
According to Williams, K.G. is not a board-certified obstetrician or gynecologist. As far back as 1979 the clinic employed a different doctor to work as a consultant, so that they could receive their license to perform abortions.
Williams added, "The doctor gained a reputation. People far and wide knew that he performed abortions at any time" and that K.G. himself told reporters in 2010 that he was "a positive force in the community."
When the clinic was searched, authorities located both bags and bottles – that held aborted fetuses – throughout the building. Jars, containing the severed feet of newborns, lined one shelf. The office furniture itself had bloody stains.
Williams told reporters, "My grasp of the English language doesn't really allow me to fully describe how horrific this clinic was – rotting bodies, fetal remains, the smell of urine throughout, blood-stained…there's no medical basis for snipping or taking scissors and putting them into the neck and cutting, severing the spinal cord. Its just homicide. Its just murder."
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