Washington Post Reporter: Gosnell Murders Just a “Local Crime Story”

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Apr 12, 2013   |   12:03PM   |   Washington, DC

A Washington Post reporter has pro-life and conservative activists on Twitter up in arms after she dismissed a question asking why her newspaper has provided no national coverage of the embattled abortion practitioner.

On twitter, pro-life advocate @MZHemingway asked Post reporter Sarah Kliff, who frequently writes articles about abortion and health issue for the Post, “WaPo health policy reporter @SarahKliff has 80+ site hits on Akin/Fluke/Komen and zero on Gosnell? Would love an explanation.”

Kliff, who is the go-to reporter for Planned Parenthood when it want to spin a story — such as undercover videos showing it covering up everything from teen rapes to promoting sex-trafficking — essentially said Gosnell’s murder trial wasn’t news.

“Hi Molly – I cover policy for the Washington Post, not local crime, hence why I wrote about all the policy issues you mention,” Kliff said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UPDATE: The Post has finally mentioned Gosnell in a news story — in paragraph 20 of an article on a vote today concerning abortion facility health and safety regulations in Virginia.

Billy Valentine, of the pro-life Susan B. Anthony List, was among many to tee off on the comments.

“Policy angle here is whether abortion clinics should be regulated. A national issue as many states enacting regs,” he said.

National Review’s Robert VerBruggen also responded sarcastically, saying, “Makes sense. Similarly, national gun-policy people do not cover local crime in places like Aurora or Newtown.”

Even award-winning actress Patricia Heaton weighed in on the controversy.

“There was more coverage of Manti Teo’s imaginary girlfriend than on Gosnell murder trial,” she bemoaned. “Media treats footballer’s imaginary girlfriend as real, treats murdered babies in Philly abortion clinic as imaginary. #Gosnell”

“@nytimes doesn’t even try to pretend anymore. Time to cancel subscription. #Gosnell trial ignored,” Heaton added.

Marjorie Dannenfelser of the Susan B. Anthony List is also responding to the media blackout.

“Right now, one of the most important criminal trials of the decade is taking place, but you won’t see it on TV – because the media doesn’t want you to see it,” she said. “I’m talking about the Philadelphia abortionist, Kermit Gosnell. Right now, he’s standing trial for the murder of a woman and several babies who had been born alive & breathing in his abortion clinic. I can’t bring myself to type to you the full details of how brutally he killed those babies – it truly is too awful to type. Investigators described his clinic as a “house of horrors.”

CLICK LIKE IF YOU’RE PRO-LIFE!

 

She continued:

To give you an idea of how truly awful this “clinic” was, one employee witness claimed he saw about 100 babies born alive and then ‘snipped’ with surgical scissors in the back of the neck, to ensure their ‘demise’.

Just today, another former employee said that she witnessed one of the babies born alive. She called the baby a “specimen” because it was “easier to deal with mentally.” Her testimony is hard to read.

For forty years, we’ve been told that abortion is safe, and that it should stay “safe, legal and rare.” But this is the real face of the pro-abortion movement that the media does not want you to see.

But your SBA List refuses to be silent about this story, and we refuse to let the media get away with this cover up of how abortion really works. We’ve caught them red-handed with this story and we won’t let go.

The unmasking of Gosnell comes as an opportunity for the pro-life movement to show the reality of abortion in America. The media can’t ignore cases like this, and states have to start paying attention to what these clinics are doing. We’re here to make sure that they do.