A pro-life activist found guilty of violating federal law for attempting to prevent late-term abortions of unborn babies at the D.C.-based Washington Surgi-Clinic facility has been sentenced to roughly five years in prison.
As CBN News reported, Lauren Handy and nine other pro-life activists held a sit-in protest at the facility in October of 2020. They sang, prayed out loud, locked arms in front of the facility's staff entrance, and attached themselves to rope and chains to block doors in the building as a means to "delay the murder of kids."
The group was charged last August by the Biden Justice Department with conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Handy was formally sentenced Tuesday to 57 months or five years in prison, plus three years supervision, for her efforts to try to save the lives of preborn babies.
Before the ruling Handy released a statement saying she was "at peace with myself and my future."
"It has been close to 9 months since I was abruptly ripped from my community," she wrote. "This has led me to think long and hard about what to say about my sentencing today in federal court. Some drafts were angry and righteous while most were just a tear-stained longing for my loved ones back home. Yes, this time has been challenging but I refuse to be jaded. Why? Because life goes on… even in jail. So I might as well continue to love and cry and scream and dance. That is joy."
The news of Handy's sentencing has angered the pro-life community which alleges the Biden administration has weaponized the Department of Justice to support a pro-abortion agenda.
"Ms. Handy's 57-month sentence is a miscarriage of justice, plain and simple," said Steve Crampton, Senior Counsel at Thomas More Society, which represented Handy.
"The caricature of Ms. Handy that the Biden Department of Justice fabricated flies in the face of reality. Ms. Handy should have been shown the same mercy that she has herself shown to countless many downtrodden throughout her young life. It is deeply disappointing that this Court did not see through the Department of Justice's smoke and mirrors," he continued.
"But this fight is far from over, and we eagerly look forward to appealing for Ms. Handy and her co-defendants' freedom, so that the FACE Act can never again be weaponized by the Department of Justice against its ideological opponents," Crampton added.
Meanwhile, Handy was not the only activist sentenced on Tuesday. John Hinshaw, 69, was sentenced to 21 months in prison; and Will Goodman was sentenced to 27 months for his role in the 2020 sit-in, LifeNews reports.
BREAKING:
69-yr-old pro-life activist John Hinshaw, who held a career serving the homeless, addicted & disabled, was just sentenced to 21 months in federal prison for his peaceful work saving lives from DC late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo
Meanwhile, Santangelo walks free
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) May 14, 2024
Others swiftly condemned the ruling.
"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."
Lila Rose, president of Live Action, called the ruling a "grave injustice."
BREAKING:
30-year-old pro-life activist Lauren Handy has just been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for handing roses and resources to women at an abortion facility,
Meanwhile, abortionists who dismember and kill children walk free.
A grave injustice!
— Lila Rose (@LilaGraceRose) May 14, 2024
"In Washington, DC: It is perfectly legal to slaughter a full-term unborn baby. But it is illegal to protest the human butchery by entering an abortion clinic waiting room to pass out roses and resources to mothers," she added. Rose also pointed out Handy exposed the discovery of five dead babies suspected of being victims of illegal and very late-term abortions performed in 2022 at that D.C. abortion clinic.
Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), responded to the sentencing stating, "Today the Biden Administration and Merrick Garland's DOJ have reached a new level of tyranny. There is no other social justice movement in our nation whose activists are subject to years in federal prison for nonviolent resistance."
"This blatant viewpoint discrimination has incalculable consequences for babies, their parents, those who defend them, and for peaceful activists across movements worldwide. I continue to stand by Lauren and the other 8 defendants who risked their freedoms to stand in defense of the least of us," she added.
The FACE Act charges brought against Handy and the other pro-life advocates have sparked a debate with opponents questioning the constitutionality of the act and its use by the Biden administration.
Last October, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Roy introduced legislation to repeal it calling it "an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers."
And in February, conservative leaders called on House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson to repeal it "as soon as possible," the Daily Signal reports.
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