The abortion clinic where the notorious baby killer Kermit Gosnell once did his horrible deeds has been sold and is getting a new lease on life.
Lutheran Community Services has purchased the former Atlantic Women's Medical Services building on Baynard Boulevard in Philadelphia, and has big plans to turn around the buildings image.
According to their website, Lutheran Community Services is a nonprofit human services agency affiliated with the Evangelical Church in America. They started in 1959, originally to help the elderly, but now they help all impoverished people, primarily offering food and emergency shelter for those in need.
In 2011, Gosnell, alongside various co-defendant employees, was charged with eight counts of murder resulting in part from gross medical malpractice in treatment of patients at his clinic, as well as 24 felony counts of illegal abortions beyond the 24 week limit, and charged with 227 misdemeanor counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law. The murder charges related to a patient who died while under his care and seven newborns said to have been killed after being born alive during attempted abortions. In May 2013, he was convicted on three of the murder charges, 21 felony counts of illegal late-term abortion, and 211 counts of violating the 24-hour informed consent law.
The agents who were first on the scene of the crimes, described the building as a horrible, disgusting place. Some people even called for the place to be demolished.
LCS Spokeswoman Cher Frampton told WDEL radio she is excited with the prospects of changing the buildings image, and believes they can make it a place to hope and help.
"We're taking this negative and turning it into a positive for the community there. We'll be able to provide emergency food, housing assistance, clothing," Frampton said.
Looking to occupy the building this fall, organizers plan to bless the building and have a cleanup day March 28.
Gosnell now serves a life sentence of life in prison with no possibility of parole. Gosnell's assistant, 51-year-old Steven Massof, is also serving time in prison for killing two babies who had been born alive.
In an interview with the Philadelphia magazine, the 72-year-old convicted killer said he is writing poetry from prison and claims he should be viewed as "spiritually innocent."
"In an ideal world," Gosnell told writer Steve Volk, "we'd have no need for abortion. 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."
