Kermit Gosnell has struck a deal with prosecutors that will spare him the death penalty for killing live babies at his "house of horrors" abortion clinic.
The 72-year-old abortion doctor agreed not to appeal his conviction in exchange for two life sentences without the possibility of parole, NBC Philadelphia reports.
Gosnell was convicted of three counts of first-degree murder for killing live infants, involuntary manslaughter for the death of a 41-year-old woman who died in his clinic, and many violations of abortion laws.
The case against Gosnell sparked a national debate about abortion, and particularly late-term procedures.
Gosnell was accused of having his patients give birth to live babies and then "snipping" their spinal cords to kill them — a practice that isn't even used in late-term procedures. Many of his patients were more than six months pregnant, prosecutors said.
Gosnell also ran a squalid clinic, according to a grand jury report laying out the allegations against him. Cat feces littered the floor of his clinic, in which fetuses were stored throughout the building. Gosnell also gave women venereal diseases by using dirty instruments, the report said.
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