“Transcending” Abortion in the Gosnell Trial

Kermit Gosnell’s attorney, Jack McMahon, made his closing arguments yesterday. In his statements, he attempted to make Gosnell seem like a respectable businessman who cares about his community.   World Magazine reports that the attorney tried to convince the jury to look past the fact that Gosnell is an abortionist.

During his closing argument, McMahon acknowledged the testimony about Gosnell’s actions was hard to take. But he urged jurors to forget about that as they mulled their verdict.

“Abortion—as is any surgical procedure—isn’t pretty,” McMahon said. “It’s bloody. It’s real. But you have to transcend that.”

McMahon wants us to “transcend.” This is precisely what we must not do. McMahon is right that abortion isn’t pretty. It’s bloody and real. But it isn’t just like any other surgical procedure. There is something beautiful about even the most bloody and real surgeries. Heart surgery is beautiful because it heals. When EMTs rushes to the scene of an accident, we call them heroes because they promote the good, the true, the beautiful, no matter how bloody and real things get.

Abortion is different because it’s murder. We all know it in our guts. We shouldn’t be surprised to find out that some people still condone the murders. History is full of people who justify murder for this or that reason. It’s hard to take, not because it’s bloody, but because it’s wrong. It isn’t pretty because it’s sin.

McMahon isn’t really asking us to transcend; he’s asking us to transgress. If we equate abortion with any other surgical procedure, we equate murder with healing.

Abortion isn’t pretty. Gosnell’s attorney is right. But it isn’t pretty because it’s wicked, not because it’s bloody.