Breaking the mainstream media's Gosnell blackout

Yesterday, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., led a Special Order hour before Congress to raise awareness about abortionist Kermit Gosnell’s murder trial and the mainstream media’s refusal to cover it.

Smith was joined by nine other representatives: Vicky Hartzler, R-Mo.; John Fleming, R-La.; Joe Pitts, R-Pa.; Scott Garrett, R-N.J.; Andy Harris, R-Md.; Keith Rothfus, R-Pa.; Roger Williams, R-Texas; Scott Perry, R-Pa.; and Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind.

“Mr. Speaker, Kermit Gosnell is a predator who must be publicly exposed and openly denounced,” Stutzman said. “And that’s why I come to the floor—to bring attention to this case [so] that the American people are informed of it, aware of it, and realize the acts that are happening within our own country.”

Andy Moore, director of AbortionWiki, condemned the media blackout and urged pro-lifers everywhere to raise awareness through social media. “If this was puppies that Gosnell was killing, the media would be all over it,” he told LifeSiteNews.com.

Moore helped organize “TweetFest,” an effort to elevate the hashtag “#GosnellMurders” to Twitter’s top trend list and pressure mainstream media outlets to cover the case. The “Break the Blackout” campaign launched today and has attracted tweets from The Manhattan Declaration, John Piper, CNN commentator Dana Loesch, and Alveda King, among others. Hashtag “#Gosnell” is currently number four on Twitter’s trend list.

Gosnell, 72, has been charged with the murder of seven babies and one woman through illegal and unsanitary abortion practices. Witnesses have described his abortion center in graphic detail: baby parts stuffed in jars, poor women left to bleed to death, blood-saturated operating rooms. and Gosnell’s practice of snipping babies’ spines, what he called “ensuring fetal demise.”

Conor Friedersdorf at The Atlantic, pointed out additional elements to Gosnell’s practice that merit national coverage: the blatant racism in his practices, the lack of oversight, and the fact that insurance groups, government health offices, and even the local hospital knew about his dangerous operation but failed to shut it down.

"This should be front page news,” wrote Kirsten Powers in a USA Today op-ed. “When Rush Limbaugh attacked Sandra Fluke, there was non-stop media hysteria … yet, accusations of babies having their heads severed—a major human rights story if there ever was one—doesn't make the cut."

Read WORLD’s coverage of the Gosnell trial here.