WASHINGTON (OSV News) — Lauren Handy has received a sentence of almost five years in federal incarceration — 57 months — for organizing a blockade in Washington abortion clinic on Oct. 22, 2020.
Handy, 30, from Alexandria, Virginia, has previously served brief jail sentences for interfering with activities at abortion clinics in both Michigan and Virginia. This penalty, her most extended to date, was issued by U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on May 14. Prosecutors from the Justice Department had suggested a sentence of 78 months in prison.
The judge informed Handy that neither she “nor any of the other co-conspirators” had demonstrated compassion or understanding towards the women at the clinic. “Your opinions took priority over, quite frankly, their human necessities,” she stated.
Lauren Handy sentenced for abortion clinic blockade
Handy chose not to give a statement during her sentencing. As she was escorted out, numerous individuals in the courtroom yelled, “You’re a hero, Lauren!” Among them was Monica Miller, the leader of the Michigan-based Red Rose Rescue, a pro-life organization in which Handy has been involved.
Martin Cannon, lead attorney for the Thomas More Society, the Chicago-based public interest law firm that advocated for Handy, announced their intention to appeal the sentence.
“They plotted to promote peace,” Cannon remarked regarding Handy and her co-defendants in a formal statement. “However, today, the court fulfilled the desires of the Biden Department of Justice by sentencing Ms. Handy to 57 months. For her dedication to nonviolently safeguarding the lives of innocent preborn individuals, Ms. Handy merits gratitude, not a heart-rending prison term.”
FACE Act violation
Handy, a Catholic, became the initial participant among nine to receive a sentence following a series of trials in 2023 that determined all were guilty of felony conspiracy against rights and breaching the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act, due to the obstruction at Washington Surgi-Clinic in the District of Columbia.
The FACE Act, enacted in 1994, enforces significant penalties on individuals found guilty of “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive actions” that obstruct access to reproductive health services, usually abortion facilities.
Handy’s obstruction, broadcasted on Facebook Live, utilized chains, bicycle locks, and furniture to hinder women from accessing the clinic’s waiting area. These strategies, frequently employed by Operation Rescue during the 1980s, are referred to as a “lock and block” because they involve locking external gates and blocking internal doors.
Global focus
Handy attracted global notice during an April 2022 press briefing in which she disclosed that she had retrieved the remains of five unborn infants the previous month—late-term fetuses, which she had kept in a refrigerator—from a collection of 115 fetal remains taken from a medical waste vehicle at Washington Surgi-Clinic.
The bodies were handed over to the district’s medical examiner; no autopsies took place. The others were given a burial officiated by a Catholic priest.
Involvement of co-defendants
Handy describes her role as the director of activism for Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, abbreviated as PAAU, an organization established by activist Terrisa Bukovinac in 2021.
As stated in the federal indictment, Handy coordinated plans with defendant Herb Geraghty, 28, from Pittsburgh. Handy organized accommodations for individuals coming from out of state and received a contribution to cover the cost of an Airbnb booking for both herself and Geraghty.
In the pre-sentencing memorandum, prosecutors additionally referred to Handy and defendant Jonathan Darnel, 41, from Arlington, Virginia, as “the architects who selected the clinic, promoted the event, enlisted participants, and orchestrated the offense.”
