U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced a pro-life activist on Tuesday to 57 months in prison and three years supervision for her participation in a peaceful pro-life protest at one the capital city’s most controversial abortion facilities.
Lauren Handy, 30, was one of several members of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), a primarily leftist organization with a pro-life streak, who initiated a “rescue and protest” at late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C., facility in October 2020.
“Some simply kneeled and prayed at Santangelo’s facility, some passed out pro-life literature and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together inside the facility,” Handy’s lawyers at the Thomas More Society noted.
Handy, PAAU’s director of Activism and Mutual Aid, decided to protest at Santangelo’s facility in particular after she heard him admit on an undercover video that he “would not help” a baby born alive after a botched abortion.
“My belief that was formed after watching the video was if the fetus survived the abortion attempt, they were left to die,” Handy told the court during witness testimony.
Handy was also among those who recovered a box of five dead preemie-sized babies outside of Santagelo’s facility. The discovery of the “D.C. Five” should have prompted an investigation into Santangelo’s possibly illegal abortion methods. Instead, it put Handy at risk for more scrutiny from law enforcement and pro-abortion Democrats.
Nearly two years after the October protest, Biden’s DOJ charged Handy and nine other advocates for life with allegedly violating the unconstitutional Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and participating in a Conspiracy Against Rights. The defendants faced up to 11 years in federal prison, an extreme expansion of the punishment time other pro-lifers were dealt.
A Washington, D.C., federal jury convicted Handy on both counts in August 2023. Handy’s lawyers “asked the Court to show leniency with a 12-month sentence — which effectively amounts to time-served” and mentioned her “deep commitment to non-violence, history of humanitarian work, and dedication to serving the marginalized in society” but to no avail.
So far, Handy’s fellow protestor Jay Smith, who took a plea deal, is the only defendant in this case thus far who has escaped sentencing with less than one year of jail time. Handy’s lawyers say they plan to appeal her conviction and sentence.
At least one Republican lawmaker has also called for action in the face of the Democrat administration’s lawfare.
“Today’s outrageous 57-month sentence for a progressive pro-life activist is a stark reminder: Biden’s DOJ is fully weaponized against pro-life American citizens, and they are using the FACE Act to do it,” Rep. Chip Roy said in a statement. “House Republicans should defund the DOJ weaponization, repeal the FACE Act, and stand up for the freedoms that we campaign on.”
President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice has turned a blind eye to the crimes of thousands of men, women, and confused adults who have spent the better part of a year blocking traffic, desecrating monuments (including a federal memorial designed to honor U.S. military members), and occupying college campuses. When it comes to prayerful pro-lifers, however, they haven’t held back.
As Roy previously noted, Biden’s DOJ charged dozens of pro-life Americans — including one dad of 11 children — with FACE Act violations for praying, worshipping, and peacefully opposing abortion but has repeatedly failed to bring the hammer down on Democrat and pro-abortion lawbreakers.
