Texas abortionist said to have ‘twisted’ living babies’ heads off their necks

The crimes of abortionist and serial killer Kermit Gosnell are, by now, well known. But another abortionist is currently under investigation by the FBI: Douglas Karpen, who has come to be known as the “Texas Gosnell.”

In 2011, Karpen appeared before the Texas Medical Board following multiple complaints, but they were all dismissed. In 2013, however, the voices against him grew louder as staffers from his abortion facility began to come forward, accusing him of committing grisly late-term abortions, after which babies were sometimes born alive. Instead of getting them medical attention, as federal law requires, Karpen would instead — according to one of his former staffers, Deborah Edge — kill them by “twisting the head off the neck.”

Abortion Clinic Employees -- "Babies born alive daily."

Karpen was also accused of slicing the necks of babies born alive. Edge explained,

When he did an abortion, especially in an over 20-week abortion, most of the time the fetus would come completely out before he either cut the spinal cord [which is the same method Gosnell used to kill his babies] or introduced one of the instruments into the soft spot [of the head] of the fetus in order to kill the fetus. But I wasn’t aware – I thought, well, it’s abortion, you know, that’s what he does. But I wasn’t aware that it was illegal.

And on many occasions we had fetuses, that he would, um, use the process as far as the process… what is it called? He would dilate the cervix, then evacuate, evacuate the uterus. And most of the time we would see him, when the fetus would come completely out, of course the fetus would still be alive, because it was still moving… of course you could see the stomach breathing and that’s when he would do his – he would snap the spine as they’re saying that this doctor [Kermit Gosnell] did and of course the soft spot was where he would take one of the forceps… the dilators, and he would stick it into the soft spot of the fetus’s head.

Photos taken by staffers appear to back up this story (CAUTION: Photos are graphic and disturbing), showing fully formed babies covered in blood and mutilated.

At least one woman who sought help from Karpen died. Others are alleged to have suffered botched abortions, with a lacerated cervix or uterus. A former patient detailed the horrors of her experience there, accusing Karpen of lying to her, and then pressuring and coercing her into an abortion:

Abortion patient on Douglas Karpen abortion clinic "I didn't want to go back there"

The FBI began formally investigating Karpen in May, bringing hope that he, like Gosnell, will finally be held accountable for the countless innocent lives lost at his hands.