A new film is telling the details of a horror so unspeakable, it shocked federal investigators. It’s a story that needs to be told.
Sometimes, a movie is not about entertainment. Sometimes, it’s about something much more important. A film can expose grave evils, and even inspire us to fight those evils. I think “Gosnell: Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer,” is just such a film.
Directed by Nick Searcy, the movie dramatizes the horrific, real-life account of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, the west Philadelphia abortionist whose clinic was described in a 2011 Grand Jury report as a “house of horrors.” During a drug raid there, authorities discovered unsanitary conditions, remnants of 45 aborted fetuses in bags inside freezers, rows of jars containing fetal feet, and untrained staff administering medications, which resulted in the death of at least one patient.
The 281-page report described how Gosnell and his staff regularly delivered full-term babies whom they then killed by “snipping” their spinal cords with scissors. Hundreds of infants were dispatched in this way. Despite numerous complaints to the state health department about the clinic conditions, Gosnell’s filthy abortion mill went without an inspection for sixteen years.
In 2013, Gosnell was found guilty of multiple counts of first-degree murder, involuntary manslaughter, and felony late-term abortions. All together, he faces three consecutive life sentences.
Along the way, the story became about more than Gosnell himself. It became about the media blackout of his trial. A famous photo of the courtroom was circulated that showed rows of seats reserved for the press, empty. Apparently, the trial of an abortionist who had murdered born-alive infants wasn’t a story newsrooms wanted to cover—at least until they were guilted into it.
All of this is why this movie is so important. And wait till you hear how it was funded. Almost 30,000 people donated to the Indiegogo campaign to make the film. In total, the producers raised over $2.3 million, making it the most successful campaign in Indiegogo’s history.
But, the project has faced serious opposition. The film’s distributors faced a libel lawsuit in 2015 that delayed its release for three years. Finally, five years after Gosnell was sentenced, the movie is hitting theaters. Folks, this one is not easy to watch, but we have to get the word out about it.
Most of the incidents portrayed in the film are exact representations of the real-life events, backed by court transcripts, police interviews, and eyewitness accounts. This is the story of the arrest and trial of America’s most prolific serial killer told in gut-wrenching detail.
But what strikes you while watching the movie is how this is not just about a single, rogue abortion doctor. This was a trial of our abortion laws in this country—laws that rightly prosecute people evil enough to murder a newborn baby, but which condone the killing of babies mere moments earlier, in the womb.
It was also a trial of the news media, exposing the unconscionable bias so many journalists have against telling any story that reflects poorly on the so-called “woman’s right to choose.” It was a trial of government officials, especially left-wing city and state politicians, who turned a blind eye to Gosnell’s dark hole of a clinic for years, rather than risk exposing the routine monstrosities of abortion.
Altogether, a doctor is rightly sent to jail for killing in illegal ways. But the question remains: Why is killing legal at all in this country? In the film, Gosnell and his lawyer question how what he did was different from what happens in clean, brightly-lit abortion clinics every day, often with public funding. It’s a question we all should be asking.
The film opens this coming Friday. To find out where you can see it, visit Gosnellmovie.com, or, of course, BreakPoint.org.
BreakPoint is a Christian worldview ministry that seeks to build and resource a movement of Christians committed to living and defending Christian worldview in all areas of life. Begun by Chuck Colson in 1991 as a daily radio broadcast, BreakPoint provides a Christian perspective on today’s news and trends via radio, interactive media, and print. Today BreakPoint commentaries, co-hosted by Eric Metaxas and John Stonestreet, air daily on more than 1,200 outlets with an estimated weekly listening audience of eight million people. Feel free to contact us at BreakPoint.org where you can read and search answers to common questions.
John Stonestreet, the host of The Point, a daily national radio program, provides thought-provoking commentaries on current events and life issues from a biblical worldview. John holds degrees from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (IL) and Bryan College (TN), and is the co-author of Making Sense of Your World: A Biblical Worldview.
Publication date: October 10, 2018
Photo courtesy: Erik Witsoe/Unsplash