Destruction of the bodies of five aborted babies in DC halted for now

UPDATE, 2/9/24: On Friday, February 9, the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), which signed the coalition letter sent to members of Congress on Tuesday and has been pursuing legal action to protect the bodies of the five children in question, announced that those bodies will be, at least for now, spared from destruction. The organization stated: 

The ACLJ was preparing to file an emergency writ of mandamus on behalf of our client to force D.C. officials to follow the law and allow for the proper burial of these babies. We contacted D.C. one final time in an attempt to resolve this issue and delay action on the disposition of the remains of these babies before we filed our lawsuit. 

We have just received assurances that the D.C. government is standing down from today’s cremation. What this means is that we were successful in preventing the Biden DOJ and D.C. from destroying the evidence of potential crimes and from simultaneously blocking the honoring of these young lives with a proper burial. 

The D.C. government also indicated to us that they will respond to Congress’ demands. We continue to hope that D.C. will in fact conduct a formal investigation into these babies’ deaths.

Caroline Taylor, Executive Director of PAAU, stated in an email:

The immediate outpouring of love and action for these babies this week has been overwhelming. This victory today is a testament to the fact that grassroots action does work, and is needed just as much as government action. The phone calls, emails, tweets, and letters that implored Congress to act ultimately led to this win. The fight is however not over. Pressure will continue until these babies receive hearings and a proper burial. Keep up the fight!

PAAU founder Terrisa Bukovinac added:

I held these babies in my own hands and have seen with my own eyes who they were and the likely federal crimes committed against them. It has been a devastating experience. I am relieved that their remains will continue to be preserved for the time being but I will not stop until these babies have their day in court, their killer is held to account, and mine and Lauren [Handy]’s promise to the Curtis Bay truck driver of a proper burial is honored.

Live Action News will continue to provide updates on this story as they become available.

2/8/24: Upon hearing that the Department of Justice (DOJ) has ordered the medical examiner in Washington, D.C. to discard the bodies of the nearly full-term babies discovered in a medical waste bin outside of a D.C. abortion business last year, a coalition of pro-life groups has mobilized and is urging Congress to step in.

The coalition, which consists of 35 pro-life groups including Live Action, sent a letter to Congress asking them to intervene and prevent the bodies from being destroyed. “We call on the House of Representatives to immediately intervene to demand these bodies are not discarded before the proper autopsies and investigations have occurred,” the letter, addressed to Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, said. “Additionally, we urge Members of Congress to offer their voice to speak out about the five innocent unborn children whose lives were brutally taken just three miles from the House chamber.”

WARNING: Disturbing photos below.

The bodies were initially discovered by pro-life activists outside of Washington Surgi-Center abortion facility, which is operated by Cesare Santangelo. 110 of the bodies were babies aborted in the first trimester; those children were given a respectful burial. A handful of others, however, were likely old enough to have survived outside the womb, according to medical experts.

According to those experts, one of the babies, given the name “Harriet” by pro-life activists, may have been the victim of a partial-birth abortion procedure, also known as a dilation and extraction. This procedure is federally illegal. The other babies are believed to have potentially been victims of infanticide after surviving an attempted abortion. In an undercover investigation, Santangelo was caught on tape stating that his typical method of abortion for babies later in gestation does not involve the injection of feticide — ensuring the baby dies in the womb — and that if a child survived an abortion attempt, he and his staff “would not help” that child survive by providing medical care.

After discovering the bodies of these aborted children, arrangements were made for the Metropolitan Washington D.C. Police homicide unit to pick up the five babies for forensic examination. Attorney Steve Cooley wrote a letter to Chief Medical Examiner Francisco J. Diaz and Police Captain Carols Heraud of the Investigative Services Bureau Homicide Branch, stating that “[i]t appears some of the fetuses were a result of late-term abortion(s) or possibly live birth abortions.”

D.C. police later dismissed any notion of illegal abortions having been committed, despite having performed no autopsies and undertaken no investigations.

Attorney Martin Cannon, who is representing pro-life activists charged by the DOJ, told The Daily Signal this week, “Just today, I got a call from the medical examiner’s office indicating that the DOJ has advised them that there is no reason to keep those babies anymore. And the medical examiner’s office accordingly tells me that if we don’t have an order to the contrary, by the end of this week, a court order, they will dispose of the babies.”

Cannon said he couldn’t understand why the medical examiner’s office would be taking orders from the DOJ — concerns echoed in the letter from the pro-life coalition.

“Despite [evidence of illegal abortions], the Department of Justice has allegedly refused to conduct investigations and is now seeking to destroy the evidence of such wrongdoing,” the letter concluded. “We call on the House of Representatives to immediately intervene to demand these bodies are not discarded before the proper autopsies and investigations have occurred. Additionally, we urge Members of Congress to offer their voice to speak out about the five innocent unborn children whose lives were brutally taken just three miles from the House chamber. The D.C. Five deserve justice and the Department of Justice must cease covering up potential evidence of infanticide and partial-birth abortion in our nation’s capital.”

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.