The Slatest

Kermit Gosnell, the notorious Philadelphia late-term abortionist who was convicted yesterday of killing three newborns with scissors, struck a deal today with prosecutors that will remove the possibility that he'll be put to death for his crimes. Instead, the 72-year-old appears certain to spend the rest of his life behind bars after giving up his right to an appeal. The Associated Press with the details:

Prosecutors agreed to two life sentences without parole, and Gosnell was to be sentenced Wednesday in the death of the third baby, an involuntary manslaughter conviction in the death of a patient and hundreds of lesser counts.

Prosecutors had sought the death penalty because Gosnell killed more than one person, and his victims were especially vulnerable given their age. But Gosnell's own advanced age had made it unlikely he would ever be executed before his appeals ran out.

Gosnell was found guilty yesterday of three counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of what prosecutors said were babies born alive and then killed with scissors at his clinic in West Philadelphia. Jurors also found him guilty of third-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Karnamaya Mongar, who died from a drug overdose during a second-term abortion performed at the since-shuttered Women's Medical Society.

The first-degree murder convictions brought with them the possibility of the death penalty, something that the prosecution had previously suggested they would seek. Ultimately, however, they decided it was better to bring an end to a gruesome case that began more than two years ago when authorities began investigating Gosnell's clinic for prescription drug trafficking.

Elsewhere in Slate: Will Saletan explains how the vast majority of abortion doctors are nothing like Kermit Gosnell.

My calendar tells me that today—Tuesday, May 14—is "Dance Like a Chicken Day," an unofficial holiday where people apparently celebrate by doing the regular, old Chicken Dance. I've got a better idea on how we all should be enjoying the day.

Only 12 days left.

Angelina Jolie makes news this morning in a New York Times op-ed, revealing that she recently underwent a preventitive double mastectomy to greatly decrease her risk of cancer:

My doctors estimated that I had an 87 percent risk of breast cancer and a 50 percent risk of ovarian cancer, although the risk is different in the case of each woman. Only a fraction of breast cancers result from an inherited gene mutation. Those with a defect in BRCA1 have a 65 percent risk of getting it, on average. Once I knew that this was my reality, I decided to be proactive and to minimize the risk as much I could. I made a decision to have a preventive double mastectomy. I started with the breasts, as my risk of breast cancer is higher than my risk of ovarian cancer, and the surgery is more complex.

Jolie says that she finished the three months worth of surgeries the procedure involved on April 27, and was able to keep the news out of the media. She is coming forward now, she writes, in the hopes that her experience will help other women. "Cancer is still a word that strikes fear into people’s hearts, producing a deep sense of powerlessness," she says. "But today it is possible to find out through a blood test whether you are highly susceptible to breast and ovarian cancer, and then take action":

I wanted to write this to tell other women that the decision to have a mastectomy was not easy. But it is one I am very happy that I made. My chances of developing breast cancer have dropped from 87 percent to under 5 percent. I can tell my children that they don’t need to fear they will lose me to breast cancer. ...

For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices.

You can read her full op-ed here.

Make it an even dozen. Minnesota is set to become the 12th state in the nation to allow gays and lesbians to wed. The Star Tribune with the details from this afternoon's vote in the statehouse:

After about 4 hours of debate, the Minnesota Senate has voted 37-30 to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in the state. The House approved the measure 75-59 last Thursday. The bill will now head to Gov. Mark Dayton, who is likely to sign it into law Tuesday.

Once it becomes official—Dayton has made it clear that he will sign it when it reaches his desk—the North Star State will join 11 others that have already legalized same sex marriage: Delaware, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Iowa, Maryland, New York, and Washington state, along with the District of Columbia.

Today's vote is that much more noteworthy because it was only this past November that gay-marriage advocates were playing defense, successfully campaigning to block an amendment to the state constitution that would have defined marriage as being a union solely between a man and a woman.

A shooting at a neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday has left 19 people injured—and police hunting for three suspects who were seen running from the scene. Here's Reuters with the sad details from yesterday:

Ten men, seven woman, a girl and a boy both age 10 were hit when wild gunfire opened up at about 1:45 p.m. as the parade marched along North Villere Street, according to police spokesman Garry Flot. Two victims are undergoing surgery, Flot said in a statement. The children were grazed and are in good condition, he said. It was unclear if the victims were marching or bystanders watching the parade.

Though no arrests have been made at this time, the FBI has already ruled out terrorism, describing Sunday's shooting as "strictly an act of street violence." But it seems that a lot of the details are still missing. Police still don't know why gunfire broke out at the parade in the first place, or whether the gunmen were aiming at someone in the crowd specifically or firing in a more random fashion.

New Orleans police this morning released video and pictures taken at the scene that may eventually help answer those questions. The rough surveillance video shows a crowd—rough estimates put the number of people near the scene at about 200—suddenly scattering as they appear to flee from a man who police believe is likely one of the shooters:

In a news conference, Mayor Mitch Landrieu called the shooting part of "the relentless drum beat of violence" on the streets of New Orleans, saying: "It's a culture of violence that has enveloped the city for a long, long period of time."