A verdict has been reached in the controversial case against Philadelphia abortion doctor Kermit Gosnell.

Gosnell has been charged with the deaths of four babies born alive and  the death of one woman. He is said to have murdered live babies by snipping their necks spinal cords.

The death of the woman, Karnamaya Mongar, is said to have resulted from a botched legal abortion. He had allegedly given her a lethal dose of sedatives and painkillers.

If the jury finds him guilty, Gosnell may face the death penalty.

Gosnell has been jailed since his arrest in January 2011.

According to state prosecutors, Goswell's staff at the Women's Medical Society in West Philadelphia were not licensed nurses or doctors. One staff member was only a high school student.

The testimonies that came from his former staff members shocked the nation. Eight staff members have pleaded guilty to several crimes in relation to Goswell's case.

Adrienne Moton, a medical assistant who worked with Goswell, testified in court in March that she had snipped the spines of at least 10 babies born alive. She had taken a cellphone picture of a baby that was killed at the clinic. She said the baby was about 30 weeks and that she thought he would have survived. She testified that Goswell said the baby was "so big he could have walked to the bus stop."

She testified that she once killed a baby that was delivered in the toilet.

Gosnell ran the illegal clinic for decades and was only discovered when FBI raided his clinic when they suspected it of prescription drug dealing.

However, what they found was far worse than drug dealing.

In a 300-page grand jury report released after Goswell's arrest, the clinic was described as a "house of horrors" as investigators found fetal remains frozen in freezers, in jars, with blood and urine on the floor.

There had reportedly been hundreds of "snippings" of babies' necks if they were born alive.

According to the report, "Gosnell had a simple solution for the unwanted babies he delivered… The way he ensured fetal demise was by sticking scissors into the back of the baby's neck and cutting the spinal cord. He called that 'snipping.'"

The report also stated that instruments were not washed and that many women were infected with sexually transmitted diseases due to the unsanitary conditions of the clinic.

Watch a video describing the "house of horrors" below: