United States of America v. Lauren Handy, et al.

Lauren Handy’s life changed when she first saw an undercover video that captured notorious late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo admitting to allowing babies to be born alive and left to die. From that moment onwards, Lauren dedicated herself to pro-life advocacy. For that she’s been branded a “violent criminal” and the leader of a criminal conspiracy by the Biden Department of Justice. Thomas More Society is defending Lauren against her conviction by the DOJ on charges of "Conspiracy Against Rights" and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act charges.

On October 22, 2020, Lauren Handy and a host of other pro-life advocates participated in a rescue and protest at Santangelo’s abortion business. Some simply kneeled and prayed at Santangelo’s facility, some passed out pro-life literature and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together inside the facility.

In March 2022, long after the rescue and protest at Santangelo’s facility, Lauren and several others were charged by the Biden DOJ with one count of “Conspiracy Against Rights” and one count of obstructing access in violation of the FACE Act. As part of the DOJ’s push to prosecute FACE cases and inflating charges using the "Conspiracy Against Rights" statute, Lauren and her co-defendants are facing up to 11 years in federal prison.

Santangelo’s Washington-Surgi facility in Washington, D.C. has long been the subject of controversy and suspicion, with reason to believe that the late-term abortionist was leaving born-alive infants without care. This is integral to understanding Lauren’s motive that day in October 2020.

“My belief that was formed after watching the video [of Santangelo] was,” Lauren stated on the witness stand, “if the fetus survived the abortion attempt, they were left to die” inside Santangelo’s facility. In gripping testimony on the stand, Lauren became visibly moved while recalling the emotional impact of that video. “In Lauren’s mind, any person who she can convince not to go into that clinic is a person whose baby is not going to be born alive and left to die,” Martin Cannon, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel and Lauren’s attorney, told the jury.

Nevertheless, Lauren and her co-defendants were found guilty. In an absurd twist, the jury additionally found their actions to be a “crime of violence.” Lauren was immediately hauled out of court in chains and jailed, before even being formally sentenced. “There was only one thing around which these people were unified, and that was nonviolence. They conspired to be peaceful,” Cannon added.

On May 14, Lauren was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison the Biden DOJ's charges. Thomas More Society is now readying to appeal her conviction. Lauren’s appeal will be the nation’s foremost legal challenge to the constitutionality of the FACE Act, which has been routinely used and expanded by the Biden DOJ to target and jail pro-lifers for peacefully advocating on behalf of the unborn.