A film about Kermit Gosnell, the unregulated Philadelphia abortionist who killed dozens of children long after the legal gestation limit, has become the most successful Indiegogo project ever.
Between March 28 and May 12 the crowdfunding campaign received over $2.2 million in pledges, comfortably passing the goal of $2.1 million.
Phelim McAleer, Ann McElhinney and Magdalena Segeida are the filmmakers behind the project to bring the story of Gosnell to the big screen.
They want to bring more national attention to a story they believe has been largely ignored in the popular press.
Speaking to LifeSiteNews.com, Ms McElhinney said: "Gosnell killed more people than Gary Ridgeway, John Wayne Gacey, the Zodiac Killer and Ted Bundy combined. In a 30-year killing spree, it is thought he killed thousands of babies. And that's not a national story?"
They had initially intended to use the crowdfunding service Kickstarter, but switched to Indiegogo after the website's administrators requested they tone down their descriptions of Mr Gosnell's crimes. McAleer told LifeSiteNews.com the request was "particularly odious and alarming".
The Indiegogo campaign received endorsements from leading Christian actor Kevin Sorbo, and his writer and director wife, Sam. In a Youtube video where he encouraged viewers to make donations to the Indiegogo campaign, Mr Sorbo described Kermit Gosnell's acts as "the crime of the century".
"He delivered live, viable babies who cried and fought for their life before he murdered them by severing their spinal cord with his scissors. He called it 'snipping'."
Mrs Sorbo added: "Hollywood loves serial killers – TV and movies are full of these stories, the scarier the better would seem to be the motto.
"CSI, Criminal Minds, Person of Interest, The Black List, The Following, Law and Order, NCIS, Dexter, and many movies follow suit.
"Even our national and local news is dominated by the crimes committed every day in our society, so it's very odd that America's biggest serial killer has been virtually ignored, erased from history."
The Grand Jury investigation into Mr Gosnell's crimes found them disturbing. This extract from the report reveals the case of a victim known only as 'Baby Boy A': "The neonatologist testified... If a baby moves, it is alive. Equally troubling, it feels a 'tremendous amount of pain' when its spinal cord is severed. So, the fact that Baby Boy A. continued to move after his spinal cord was cut with scissors means that he did not die instantly. Maybe the cord was not completely severed. In any case, his few moments of life were spent in excruciating pain."
The film's organisers described their plan as "your chance to bypass the media 'information gatekeepers' to get tens of millions of Americans thinking about what happened in Philadelphia".
The film is intended for television release and is not expected to be played in cinemas. The production schedule has not been confirmed yet.
