Time for Justice for Pro-Life Prisoners and the DC 5

Can you imagine being thrown in jail for peacefully protesting the deaths of babies in the womb? Well, you don’t have to, because it has happened.

Today, the Left’s weaponization of a federal law called the FACE Act has led to exactly that, unjustly persecuting pro-life advocates who are its ideological opponents.

But finally, after years of this form of persecution from the Biden-Harris administration, a much-needed airing will occur this week.

A House subcommittee’s hearing Wednesday on the FACE Act will seek to get to the bottom of President Joe Biden’s weaponizing of the government against pro-life advocates and expose how they were harmed.

One of the most egregious examples of the Justice Department’s unjust application of the FACE Act happened right in our nation’s capital just a few years ago.

In March 2022, members of the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, or PAAU, discovered the tortured remains of five fully formed babies now known as “the D.C. Five.” Their bodies and wounds indicated they likely were victims of illegal partial-birth or born-alive abortions.

Lauren Handy and other PAAU activists notified the authorities of the bodies found at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Northwest D.C. and called for an investigation into the likely federal crimes that led to their deaths. Instead, the FBI arrested Handy for a protest she had engaged in a year before.

Handy ultimately was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison and three years of probation for her nonviolent violation of the FACE Act.

In a recent op-ed in the Washington Examiner, fellow PAAU activist Terrisa Bukovinac highlighted an appalling injustice: While Handy sits behind bars, Washington Surgi-Clinic abortionist Cesare Santangelo and other pro-abortion radicals remain untouched.

Bukovinac wrote:

Lauren is now in a Tallahassee prison. She’s serving a nearly five-year sentence not for recovering these babies’ remains but for violating FACE at the clinic that produced those remains. Meanwhile, the bodies of the victims languish years later at the Washington medical examiner’s office, still awaiting an autopsy, an investigation, and justice.   

Pro-life advocates named the five aborted babies to give them dignity: Ángel, Christopher X, Harriet, Holly, and Phoenix. These five children would be toddlers right now, playing and exploring the world around them. Instead, their bodies remain in a morgue awaiting justice that the Biden-Harris administration denied.

Despite repeated requests from members of Congress and the public, no autopsies or investigations have occurred. Handy is still behind prison bars along with many other pro-life advocates sentenced under the FACE Act.

I am thankful that members of Congress are calling out the Biden-Harris administration for targeting pro-life Americans and reviewing the unjust application of the FACE Act.

President Bill Clinton signed the FACE Act into law over 30 years ago. Supposedly, it was enacted to protect abortion facilities, places of worship, and pregnancy centers from threats, violence, and vandalism.

Thirty years later, however, the FACE Act has become little more than a tool for the Biden-Harris administration’s FBI and Justice Department to employ against political enemies—specifically pro-life advocates.

Since May 2022, the FBI and DOJ have ignored over 500 violent attacks involving firebombings, vandalism, and explicit threats against Catholic churches and pro-life organizations across America.

Each of these violent attacks clearly and horrifically violated the FACE Act. FBI Director Chris Wray admitted that the overwhelming majority of violent, abortion-related threats since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling target pro-life entities.

Yet instead of prosecuting those responsible, including the infamous group Jane’s Revenge, the FBI ruthlessly targeted pro-life activists for peacefully protesting at abortion facilities.

For example, Wray’s FBI arrested innocent pro-life advocate and Catholic father Mark Houck at his home at gunpoint, traumatizing his family, for allegedly violating the FACE Act. The bureau then subjected Houck to a lengthy and costly trial it hoped would lead to his imprisonment before he ultimately was acquitted on all charges.

Houck isn’t an anomaly. The Justice Department and FBI have wielded the FACE Act a total of 130 times against nonviolent pro-life advocates, often pushing for unreasonably heavy sentences—even for elderly individuals such as Russian death camp survivor Eva Edl.

Comparatively, the FACE Act has been used to defend Catholic churches and pregnancy centers only five times, even though these places are 22 times more likely to be attacked than abortion facilities.

Thankfully, with Donald Trump’s upcoming second inauguration, hope remains that justice isn’t far off for the D.C. Five and pro-life advocates who fight to protect unborn children from barbaric, late-term abortions.

Americans must not forget that the U.S. government weaponized the law against nonviolent political enemies. They must not forget that the government targeted and imprisoned peaceful pro-life advocates while violent domestic extremists walk free to this day.

Most importantly, Americans should know that we expect action over outrage. It’s long past time to address the injustice of the FACE Act and seek justice for the five babies who were likely victims of federal crimes.

The House Judiciary subcommittee’s hearing Wednesday is a great place to start. Americans can look forward to the incoming Trump administration and a Justice Department that will prioritize justice over politics.

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