(Reuters) – Philadelphia prosecutors paved the way in court on Wednesday toward seeking the death penalty for a doctor accused of killing live, viable babies at his abortion clinic.

Prosecutors filed notice that the case against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, who faces multiple charges of first-degree murder, meets the standards of a death penalty case, said assistant District Attorney Christine Wechsler outside Common Pleas court.

Gosnell, his wife Pearl and eight employees of the west Philadelphia abortion clinic known as the Women’s Medical Society are accused in the deaths of seven babies and also the 2009 death of a woman given too much anesthesia.

Gosnell has committed unspeakable evil acts. But I agree with The Anchoress:

Nevertheless, I would defend this man’s right to live his life out in prison, rather than watch the state take his life. His life is not anyone else’s to take. For pro-lifers, this is a no-brainer.

And he may need many years and much time, in order to understand the enormity of what he has done, and allow his heart to be turned. He may need time for conversion and salvation.

As John Paul II wrote on the death penalty:

A sign of hope is the increasing recognition that the dignity of human life must never be taken away, even in the case of someone who has done great evil. Modern society has the means of protecting itself, without definitively denying criminals the chance to reform. I renew the appeal I made most recently at Christmas for a consensus to end the death penalty, which is both cruel and unnecessary. (Pope John Paul II, St. Louis, MO, January 1999)

Read more from the Anchoress here.