Warning: Graphic content

A man has been arrested and charged with the murder of a 41-year-old pregnant woman and seven newborn babies in an abortion clinic deemed a 'house of horrors' by prosecutors.

A judge has withheld bail for Dr Kermit Gosnell, 69, who has allegedly made millions of dollars over thirty years performing illegal abortions at a Philadelphia clinic that served mostly low-income minority women.

According to a grand jury report, the Women's Medical Society was the "go-to" place for women wanting illegal abortions or for people seeking "no-questions-asked" prescription drugs.

In early 2010 authorities investigating drug-related complaints at the clinic say they uncovered a squalid, barbaric "house of horrors" where "botched", "illegal" abortions were conducted.

An attorney alleges seven babies born alive in the sixth, seventh and eighth months of their mothers' pregnancies were killed when scissors were used to cut their spinal cords.

Gosnell is also accused of routinely inducing labor in patients in their second and third trimesters rather than perform risky late-term abortions, sometimes resulting in live births.

In these cases, Gosnell and his staffers allegedly killed the babies by stabbing their necks with scissors to sever their spinal cords and sometimes suctioned their skulls.

The conditions of the clinic have been described as deplorable. According to a criminal complaint, shelves in the clinics were lined with bags and bottles holding aborted fetuses. Severed feet were said to be kept for no medical purpose.

Gosnell is accused of murdering 41-year-old patient Karnamaya Mongar. Reports say Mongar died November 20, 2009, after overdosing on anesthetics prescribed by the doctor.

Born in Bhutan, Mongar had spent 18 years living in a bamboo hut in a Nepalese refugee camp before going to the United States in July 2009 as part of a humanitarian resettlement program, reports say.

The mother of four and grandmother of one was 19 weeks into her pregnancy when, after getting a referral from a Washington, D.C., medical clinic, she went to Gosnell's practice.

Reports say that a high school student was employed at the clinic, paid $8.50 an hour to operate an ultrasound machine, administer anesthesia and diagnose sexually transmitted diseases.

Investigators say Gosnell made thousands of dollars a night, mostly in cash, for a few hours of work performing abortions.

Nine of Gosnell's employees have also been charged, four with murder. None had any medical training.

Gosnell, who is not a registered obstetrician or gynecologist has been charged with eight counts of murder and is next scheduled to appear in court on February 9.