Victim: Abortion clinic was 'house of horrors'

WEST PHILADELPHIA - January 21, 2011 (WPVI) -- Davida Johnson says she's been reliving her nightmares this week following the arrest of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who is accused of killing babies that were born alive and using scissors to cut their spinal cords.

It was back in 2001 when Johnson was taken to Gosnell's late-term abortion clinic at 38th and Lancaster in West Philadelphia.

Johnson, already the mother of one child, said she decided against aborting her 6-month-old fetus on her way into a filthy operating room after seeing dazed and bloody patients in recovery.

She said Gosnell and his staff not only ignored her change of heart, they hit her, tied her down and sedated her until she passed out.

"This is a house of horror. Where did I come to? What am I doing," Johnson said of the thoughts going through her mind. "They gave me another dose of something that I did not agree to. I was completely out."

"The next thing I knew I woke up on a bloody, dirty recliner," Johnson continued.

INTERACTIVE: Timeline of the Phila. abortion clinic case

She says she did all she could to fight off the doctor and now worries about the fate of the fetus he ripped from her.

"It just hurts me to see that. I think that, like, did he do this to my son? Did he slit his neck? Did he die in pain?" she said.

Johnson believes she contracted venereal disease from the equipment Gosnell used and suffered permanent damage to her womb. Since the 2001 abortion, Johnson says she has suffered four miscarriages.

District Attorney Seth Williams is considering going after the death penalty for Gosnell. However, Johnson says that is not what she wants.

"That's the easy way out. I believe he should have a cell with the pictures of his murdered victims and what he did to those babies," Johnson said.

Gosnell, 69, a family practice physician not certified to perform abortions, was arraigned Thursday on charges of murdering seven babies and one patient. His attorney has declined to comment.

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philadelphia, pennsylvania, west philadelphia, abortion, ed rendell, dr. kermit gosnell, local/state, vernon odom

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