CNN) — A Philadelphia physician, Kermit Barron Gosnell, was charged today with murder and other offenses for allegedly causing the death of one of his female patients and killing seven viable babies in illegal, late-term abortions, Philadelphia District Attorney Seth Williams said.
The babies were born alive in the sixth, seventh and eighth months of pregnancy, but their spinal cords were allegedly severed with scissors, Williams said in a statement.
Nine other people who worked in the west Philadelphia medical office, including Gosnell’s wife and sister-in-law, also were charged, Williams said. The practice, called the Women’s Medical Society, served mostly low-income minority women for years, he said.
Williams’ statement provided a grisly scenario of the shuttered abortion clinic: A search of the office last year by authorities found bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses scattered throughout the building. Jars containing the severed feet of babies lined a shelf. Furniture and equipment was blood-stained, dusty and broken.
Gosnell’s attorney, William J. Brennan of Philadelphia, told CNN he was surprised at the “length and breadth” of the grand jury’s presentment and report against Gosnell and the nine other defendants. Gosnell is facing hundreds of counts, according to the grand jury’s 62-page presentment.
“The DA of Philadelphia, Seth Williams, is a good guy, and I have a lot of respect for him, but he played this so close to the vest that we were shocked at the number of charges,” Brennan told CNN.
“I hope there is no rush to judgment in this case,” Brennan continued. “Dr. Gosnell should enjoy the same presumption of innocence anyone in this country, you or me, should get if we were charged with a crime. In the process of reviewing the grand jury’s presentment, which is several hundred pages, I understand that the charges are very serious, and we will need some time to read through the grand jury’s presentment and its report.”
Gosnell, 69, is not a board-certified obstetrician or gynecologist, Williams said.