February 22, 2017
Kermit Gosnell, the former Philadelphia abortion provider sentenced to life in prison for murdering three infants born alive during a procedure, allegedly claimed in a letter to actor Will Smith that he delivered the celebrity when he was born in 1968.
A copy of the November 2016 letter, obtained by The Daily Mail, references Gosnell's days as a resident at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, years before he opened his infamous Women's Medical Society on Lancaster Avenue in Powelton Village.
Gosnell, sentenced to life in prison in 2013, was found guilty of 237 out of 263 criminal charges in connection to the clinic he opened in the early 1970's.
Smith, 48, was born in Philadelphia on Sept. 25, 1968, at a time when Gosnell was still regarded as the progressive physician who had opened up the Mantua Halfway House as a rehab center for drug addicts.
Gosnell's claim about Smith is supported by Phelim McAleer, co-author of the newly published “Gosnell: The Untold Story of America’s Most Prolific Serial Killer," who said he was told the delivery occurred after family doctor Leopold Lowenberg got stuck in traffic during Caroline Smith's labor.
"I’m fond of asserting that there could never be a "Men in Black" if I had dropped you on your head," the 76-year-old Gosnell wrote in his letter to Smith, obtained by The Daily Mail from McAleer.
Gosnell goes on to explain that he decided to reach out to Smith after the actor spoke up last year about his interest in pursuing a political career at some point in the future. He also mentions that his son, a graduate of Temple University, is an aspiring screenwriter and had rebuffed his father's previous draft letters to engage Smith for assistance in his professional development.
At no point in the letter does Gosnell directly petition Smith for legal help, although he strongly suggests Smith's political conscience should compel him to consider the context of Gosnell's work as an abortion doctor relative to the struggles of African Americans in the United States.
Among the most disturbing allegations to emerge during his trial was that he would use scissors to fatally stab babies born alive, a practice he called "snipping."
In addition to the charges for his illegal abortion services, Gosnell also faced federal charges of running an Oxycontin pill mill while providing, at most, cursory medical evaluations for the patients who purchased drugs from him.
Gosnell told McAleer that he knew Smith's grandmother, Helen Bright, through her service as a nurse and that she would have supported his case. His letter further asserts his belief that he will eventually be vindicated and set free as a result of "gross errors" during his legal proceedings.
The New York Post's attempts to verify Gosnell's claims with Smith's reps and Thomas Jefferson University Hospital were not returned with a definitive answer.
A full copy of the letter can be found at The Daily Mail.
