Ashley Baldwin said she saw babies moving on five occasions after the procedures. The doctor is charged with seven counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of babies and one count of third-degree murder in the death of an abortion patient.
The Women's Medical Society in Philadelphia. Ex-worker Ashley Baldwin testified that she witnessed an aborted baby screeching.
Horror found an address in west Philadelphia.
The gruesome testimony at the “House of Horrors” murder trial of abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell continued on Thursday, with two former employees describing scenes that strained the imagination.
Ashley Baldwin, who began working at the cash-only Women’s Medical Society clinic in west Philadelphia when she was just 15, said that she routinely assisted Gosnell with abortions and, on five different occasions, saw babies moving following the procedure.
In one case, Baldwin, who is now 22 and the mother of her own toddler, testified that she witnessed an aborted baby “screeching,” the Philadelphia Inquirer reported.
"They looked just like regular babies," Baldwin said to Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore.
When asked about a fetus described in court as “Baby A,” who the prosecution contends was older than 24 weeks, the legal limit for abortions in the state, Baldwin recalled the especially large baby following the procedure.
Dr. Kermit Gosnell also faces federal charges that he distributed painkillers to drug dealers out of his Philadelphia office.
"The chest was moving," she testified Thursday.
Gosnell, who is charged with eight counts of murder, trained his employees to cut the necks of the aborted babies to sever their spinal cords, both Baldwin and Lynda Williams, another former employee, testified on Wednesday.
Williams, who has already pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, testified that she saw her former boss snip the necks of more than 30 babies.
John McMahon, Gosnell’s attorney, has argued that his client did not kill any infants by snipping their spines and that they were already in the death throes because of the abortion drugs he had given them.
Gosnell is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of seven babies, as well as third-degree murder in the death of a Virginia woman undergoing an abortion at Women’s Medical Society clinic.
In addition, Gosnell, who prosecutors say made millions of dollars over the years from his business, will face federal charges that he illegally distributed painkillers to drug dealers and addicts out of his west Philadelphia office.
If convicted of the murder charges, Gosnell faces the death penalty. Williams could be sentenced to up to 100 years in prison. Baldwin has not been charged with a crime.
