A former medical assistant testified Thursday that she saw more than 10 babies born alive at the West Philadelphia abortion clinic where she worked for a doctor who is now on trial for murder . Kareema Cross also saw babies or fetal remains in a toilet , a plastic box and jars , she told the court in the trial of Dr. Kermit Gosnell , who is charged with eight counts of murder . He is accused of killing seven babies after allegedly performing illegal late-term abortions and Karnamaya Mongar , 41 , who died of an anesthetic overdose during a second-trimester abortion . He has pleaded not guilty . Gosnell 's defense attorney Jack McMahon has maintained that none of the infants was killed ; rather , they were already dead because Gosnell had administered the abortion drug Digoxin . Cross , 28 , who stopped working at the clinic in 2009 when she gave birth to a child , reported Gosnell to authorities using the name of a relative , she said . Cross said Gosnell regularly performed illegal late-term abortions that he routinely recorded as `` 24.5 weeks . '' In Pennsylvania , abortions past 24 weeks are illegal unless the health of the mother is at stake . Cross graphically described witnessing Gosnell cut the necks of several babies while she worked at the clinic . She recalled being present for more than 10 instances in which babies were delivered alive by patients given abortion drugs . `` Were those babies breathing ? '' Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore asked . `` Yes , '' Cross replied . And then there was the time a mother gave birth while sitting on the toilet . `` It was swimming a bit , '' she said , `` basically , trying to get out of the toilet . '' She also described a baby so large that his arms and legs hung over the sides a plastic box that resembled a shoe box . `` That was the largest baby I ever saw , '' she said matter-of-factly , indicating with her hands he was 12 to 18 inches long , before adding that Gosnell commented on his size . `` He 'd say , 'the baby 's big enough to walk to the bus stop , ' `` she said . When Cross questioned Gosnell about seeing a baby moving or breathing , he told her what she saw was `` not real '' and that there were instead involuntary spasms , she said . `` I thought they were breathing ; he said they were n't , '' Cross said . Jurors were also shown a series of photos Cross took with her digital camera to document the unsavory conditions inside the Women 's Medical Society after she become disturbed by the Gosnell 's business practices . Cross admitted to having an abortion herself at a different clinic in 2007 because she was uncomfortable with the conditions at Gosnell 's facility . Jars containing the severed feet of babies lined a shelf . Furniture and equipment was blood-stained , dusty and broken . Cross pleaded guilty to drug charges in a federal case in which Gosnell is charged with illegally selling prescriptions . She was not charged in the murder trial involving Gosnell . The clinic was initially raided in 2010 for illegal prescription drug activity , not the doctor 's abortion practices . When authorities searched Gosnell 's practice , they found bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses scattered throughout the building . Similar to testimony from other clinic employees , after a few months of working at the Women 's Medical Society in August 2005 for $ 10 an hour , Gosnell had Cross working the ultrasound machine and assisting with abortion procedures , as well as other procedures she was not formally trained to do . Also on trial is Eileen O'Neill , 56 , a medical school graduate who worked as a doctor at Gosnell 's clinic . O'Neill , who did not have a medical license , is not charged with performing abortions but with participating in the operation of a `` corrupt organization . '' If found guilty , Gosnell could be sentenced to death .
Dr. Gosnell is charged with murder in the deaths of one babies and seven woman . Ex-employee at a West Philadelphia abortion clinic tells court of doctor cutting babies ' necks . seven babies were born alive at the facility , medical assistant Kareema Cross testifies .