Gosnell Says He Is 'Spiritually Innocent'

Kermit Gosnell, the 72 year-old Philadelphia abortionist who was found guilty of murder and involuntary manslaughter in May, has said he is “spiritually innocent,” and believes he has performed a noble function in society.

Gosnell contends he is “innocent” of the charges against him, laying out complicated–and not particularly credible–reasons he should have been found not guilty. When Volk asked him if he was actually referring to his own sense of “spiritual innocence,” Gosnell responded, “Yes.”

According to Steve Volt, a journalist who covered his trial and has corresponded with him since he entered prison, Gosnell sees abortion as sinful on some level, but a lesser sin than a child being born into a life of poverty.

Volt’s new article, “Gosnell’s Babies” appears in Philadelphia magazine this coming week and will be part of a new e-book.

Gosnell ran the Women’s Medical Society in West Philadelphia for decades until February 2010 when his clinic was raided by the FBI for evidence of a prescription “pill mill.”

What was discovered instead was reported in an almost 300 page grand jury report, released the following year, that described an abortion clinic with filthy conditions including bloody floors and bags of fetal remains stored in freezers. The report indicated that the facility had undergone no inspections for years.

In addition, although Planned Parenthood had heard complaints about Gosnell’s clinic, the abortion industry giant failed to report them, leaving disturbed patients themselves to make the reports.

Gosnell’s clinic was shut down and his license suspended. The abortionist was charged with snipping the spinal cords of babies born alive during abortion procedures with scissors, and with causing the death of a patient through a drug overdose.

“In an ideal world, we’d have no need for abortion,” Gosnell reportedly told Volt. “But bringing a child into the world when it cannot be provided for, that there are not sufficient systems to support, is a greater sin. I considered myself to be in a war against poverty, and I feel comfortable with the things I did and the decisions I made.”

According to Volt, Gosnell considers his conviction to have been “motivated by religion and politics.”

“I have come to believe that the presumption of guilt was compounded by religious convictions,” the abortionist said.

Volk stated he received 12 letters, more than 50 emails, over two dozen phone calls, and several poems from Gosnell.

Volt told ABC News that, while in jail, Gosnell has been reading the Bible, learning Spanish, exercising, and contacting charities such as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Clinton Global Initiative to discuss issues such as prison and justice reform.

“He believes that he gained insight into what it’s like to be pushed into the system, without the capacity to explain himself,” Volt said. “He believes if he could have spoken about his rationale for doing things, he wouldn’t be in jail … There is no anger, no desperation [in his voice]. He believes he was in a war, and that ‘they’ won.”