Gosnell Gets Three Life Sentences

Waived his right to appeal

A Philadelphia doctor was sent to prison on Wednesday to serve three life terms without parole for murdering babies during late-term abortions and other crimes at his squalid clinic.

In a deal that spared him from the death penalty, Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, faced a judge in a two-day sentencing at Philadelphia Common Pleas Court after waiving his right to appeal his conviction on three counts of first-degree murder.

Graphic trial testimony about Gosnell's actions at the now-shuttered Women's Medical Society Clinic in West Philadelphia, which served a predominantly black and low-income community, cast a spotlight on the controversial practice of late-term abortions.