Pearl Gosnell, wife of abortion doc, pleads guilty

    Pearl Gosnell, wife of Dr. Kermit Gosnell, pleaded guilty Tuesday to crimes associated with the now closed Women’s Medical Clinic in West Philadelphia.

    Gosnell waived her right to a jury trial and pleaded guilty to charges including participating in the abortion of a baby 24 weeks of gestation or more.

    The Philadelphia district attorney’s office said she is the seventh person to enter a guilty plea in connection to crimes outlined in the December 2010 grand jury report on the West Philadelphia abortion clinic.

    The trial date for her husband and two others has been set for March of 2013. Kermit Gosnell is accused of delivering and then killing babies at the clinic.

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    Pearl Gosnell’s attorney, F. Michael Medway, indicated she will not testify against her husband in court, but said she likely will not be sentenced until after the trial.

    Her maximum possible sentence is 54 years and $80,000 in fines, though at the hearing Common Pleas Court Judge Benjamin Lerner said her actual sentence would be much lighter.

    Gosnell will remain on house arrest, where she has been since April, until her sentencing.

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