Pro-life advocates scored a victory in court recently when a judge ordered a doctor currently serving three life terms for murdering three babies born alive to pay nearly $4 million to the daughter of a Virginia woman who was given a lethal dose of Demerol while under his care.
Karnamaya Mongar died in 2009 and her daughter, Yashoda Devi Gurung, filed a lawsuit against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 74, and his clinic, the Women's Medical Society, based in Philadelphia.
Common Pleas Judge Jacqueline Allen awarded Gurung $3.9 million, $650,000 in compensatory damages, and $3.25 million in punitive damages, according to LifeSiteNews.
Gosnell is serving a life sentence after he was convicted in 2013 of killing three babies born alive. He was also found guilty for involuntary manslaughter of Mongar.
His clinic was dubbed as the "House of Horrors" by the grand jury which found blood smeared on the floor and equipment, unsterilized medical utensils, dismembered bodies of babies stored in jars, unlicenced staff administering anaesthesia, illegal late-term abortions, and a regular routine of "snipping" live babies' spinal cords with scissors to ensure death.
However, Gurung may never get the money as Gosnell's attorney, Jack McMahon, said his medical practice was not insured and he has few assets.
He told the Legal Intelligencer that he agreed with the compensatory damages but not the punitive damages.
Gosnell is serving three consecutive life sentences for the murder of the three babies. He was also sentenced to two and a half to five years in prison for the death of Mongar.
A documentary was made about Gosnell and his clinic titled "3801 Lancaster: American Tragedy."
The horrific state of his clinic was found when the FBI and police raided the facility in February 2010.
During the trial, witnesses described the babies as breathing, moving and making sounds, according to Reuters.
Gosnell was also found guilty of conducting 21 abortions after 24 weeks of pregnancy, beyond the allowed period in Pennsylvania.
Anti-abortion groups praised the verdict.
"The guilty verdict on charges of killing babies following abortion shows that the law recognises a point at which the 'right to choose' must yield to the right to life, and also shows that abortionists don't know where that point is," said Frank Pavone, director of Priests for Life, a group that opposes abortion.
