Dedham Community Theatre Should Reconsider Gosnell Showing

Author's note: as always, all posts made by me reflect solely my views and not Patch's.

The Merrimack Valley-based group Catholic Quest is hosting a showing of the movie Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer at the Dedham Community Theatre on April 6. Catholic Quest has every right to hold this event, as anyone can rent out the theatre. This movie contains factual inaccuracies regarding Kermit Gosnell. The theatre is owned by Rep Paul McMurtry, making the showing of an inaccurate political movie problematic.

Kermit Gosnell ran an abortion clinic in West Philadelphia, PA, despite not being a doctor. His clinic preyed on the vulnerable and was unsanitary and grotesque . However, the movie which bears his name relies on scare tactics and inaccuracies in portraying the trial which led to his current incarceration for three counts of first-degree murder. As Robin Marty noted "the 'America’s Biggest' moniker is a bit of a stretch."

"...The distinction between babies, the murders of which are prosecutable, and fetuses (which are still in utero and well before the point of viability) grows increasingly fuzzy as the movie progresses. That is, clearly, part of the point of the film in the first place..." Added Marty. One of the talking points in Catholic Quest's promoted Patch event for the showing is "But now the urgency of its message is vindicated by current events in New York, Virginia, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and elsewhere where shocking revisions are being proposed to abortion laws." Of the nineteen bills involving abortion in Massachusetts, three of these bill seek to change the law surrounding abortion by using these very scare tactics.

The movie likens Gosnell's medically unsound and unethical clinic and actions to those of the late Dr. George Tiller. Dr. Tiller, who was well-known for performing third-term abortions, was murdered by an anti-abortion activist in 2009.

Catholic Quest has the same right to rent out the Dedham Community Theatre as any other organization. Given Rep. McMurtry's (who received an A- on NARAL's reproductive freedom scorecard) ownership of the theatre, I believe it should be reconsidered.