Editor’s Note: On August 29, 2023, five pro-life activists, including Lauren Handy, were found guilty of violating a conspiracy law and the FACE [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act for their participation in a peaceful 2020 rescue action at the D.C.-based Washington Surgi-Clinic (WSC), the abortion facility run by Cesare Santangelo, who has said that if a child was born alive at his facility during an abortion, “we would not help it.” Handy and the other activists are awaiting sentencing and they each face up to 11 years in prison. A judge had previously denied an emergency motion for Handy’s release.
(Thomas More Society) On September 22, 2023, a Washington, D.C. federal appellate court denied an emergency motion filed by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of pro-life advocate Lauren Handy. The 29-year-old woman sought immediate release from jail, where she is being held pending sentencing after being convicted for attempting to stop the killing of preborn children at an abortion facility in the nation’s capital. The peaceful pro-life protest for which Handy was arrested took place in October 2020.
“We are disappointed but not deterred,” stated Steve Crampton, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel. “We will fight on, and we believe we will ultimately prevail.”
Crampton explained the next step: “We were denied an emergency motion. We have filed an expedited appeal, together with two of Lauren’s other defendants.” The brief for the expedited appeal is due by October 2, 2023.
READ: ‘Justice for the Five’: Key facts about the discovery of the aborted babies in DC
Handy and four co-defendants were immediately detained on August 29, 2023, after a Washington, D.C. jury found them guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, as well as a conspiracy against “rights” in United States of America v. Lauren Handy, et al. Crampton noted that those so-called “rights” are not found in the Constitution, according to the United States Supreme Court.
Read the Order issued on September 22, 2023, by the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia by Circuit Judges Robert Wilkins, Gregory Katsas, and Justin Walker, denying the emergency appeal filed by Thomas More Society attorneys on behalf of pro-life advocate Lauren Handy, seeking her release from jail pending sentencing in United States of America v. Lauren Handy, et al. here.
