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D.C. Police Find Five Fetuses In Home Of Anti-Abortion Activist
Authorities made the grisly discovery shortly after Lauren Handy was indicted with eight others on federal charges for setting up a blockade at an abortion clinic in 2020.
Police in Washington DC say they’ve recovered five fetuses from a home belonging to an anti-abortion activist.
Authorities in the capital city responded to reports of bio-hazard material at the home of Lauren Handy, 28, on Wednesday, according to CBS affiliate WUSA 9 News. They found five fetuses at the 6th Street SE address, where Handy resides.
The human remains were taken away by the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Handy told reporters she believed the raid would happen “sooner than later” and refused to say what was contained in the biohazard bags and coolers authorities took from the home, saying “people would freak out when they heard.”
D.C. Metro Police told Oxygen.com that no arrests had been made.
The discovery came hours after Handy, along with eight others, was indicted by a grand jury on federal charges of felony conspiracy after allegedly blocking the entrance of a Washington D.C. abortion clinic in protest in October 2020. According to unsealed documents from the Department of Justice, the group used chains and rope to prevent people from entering the Surgi-Clinic on F Street NW.
Court records show Handy was arrested on Wednesday and released from federal custody on her own recognizance.
Handy sits as the Director of Activism for the PAAU (Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising), which announced Handy’s arrest and release on Thursday.
The PAAU issued a statement on Friday morning, indicating the fetuses were willfully reported to the police.
“Prior to the [federal] arrest, one of the defendants privately arranged for the Washington DC Police homicide unit to pick up five recently-discovered bodies of aborted babies for forensic examination,” the statement read. “Their late gestational ages and their apparent sustained injuries suggested possible violation of the federal Partial-Birth Act and the Born Alive Infants Protection Act. These babies were given to police based on the suspicion of these violations.”
The PAUU said DC Metro did “not believe a crime [had] been committed against" the fetuses but indicated that it was a federal matter and not a local one.
Handy was one of nine people indicted on Wednesday in connection with federal civil rights offenses on charges of conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offense.
The acronym "FACE" stands for “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances.”
At least seven defendants came from out of state, including Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts.
Federal prosecutors said Handy impersonated a woman named “Hazel Jenkins” and inquired about having an abortion, according to records. She scheduled an appointment on Oct. 22, 2020 – the day of the blockade – and met with staff before the other defendants forced their way into the clinic.
The chaos resulted in an employee falling and injuring her ankle.
Handy has a history of several legal complaints filed against her, including trespassing, unlawful assembly in several local areas, and blocking the Surgi-Clinic entrance in January (the latter was subsequently dropped), according to WUSA 9.
If convicted of federal charges, Handy faces up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $350,000 fine.
The PAUU has planned a live press conference in Washington D.C. for Tuesday. They stated their intentions to address a number of items, including where the fetuses came from, who acquired the remains, and the fate of other fetuses that have not been turned over to police.
