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Activist sentenced for blocking Washington, D.C., abortion clinic's entry, not for handing out roses
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Lauren Handy, an anti-abortion activist, was sentenced May 14 to 57 months in prison on a federal civil rights charge and for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits physically blocking access to reproductive care clinics.
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Prosecutors said Handy, who was convicted in August 2023, organized and directed an Oct. 22, 2000, "lock-and-block" protest at a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic. Some protesters used chains, locks and ropes to bind themselves together and block clinic doors.
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Nine other defendants were convicted or pleaded guilty for their roles in the protest, which prosecutors said left one person injured and traumatized patients.
An anti-abortion activist convicted for her role in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of a Washington, D.C.-area abortion clinic was sentenced May 14 to 57 months in prison.
Lauren Handy, the activism and mutual aid director for the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, was convicted in August 2023 of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits obstructing entrances to reproductive health clinics. She was also found guilty on a felony civil rights charge.
Lila Rose, the founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, said on social media that Handy’s sentence was too severe for her actions.
"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," Rose wrote in a May 14 Instagram post. "Meanwhile, abortionists who dismember and kill children walk free. A grave injustice!"
The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)
Rose’s claim, however, misstates the reason for Handy’s conviction. After PolitiFact contacted Rose, Live Action spokesperson Noah Brandt referred us to Rose's May 15 X post that clarified her claim. She made the same clarification on her Instagram post. Here is the original archived version.
"CLARIFICATION: While Lauren has passed out roses and offered counseling and resources at many abortion facilities, Lauren and fellow defendants were convicted of violating the FACE Act — a law that has primarily been used to penalize pro-life activism — for their participation in a non-violent sit-in at Cesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C. late-term abortion facility," she wrote, in a post that went on to criticize the conviction and sentence as unjust.
Prosecutors, in their sentencing memorandum, said Handy and her co-defendants planned a "lock-and-block" invasion of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, "during which they used force and physical obstructions to interfere with access to the clinic."
Handy planned, organized and directed the protest, which lasted for several hours on Oct. 22, 2020, prosecutors said. Co-defendant Jonathan Darnel, who livestreamed the event, also co-organized the event. He was sentenced May 15 to 34 months in prison.
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Eight other activists were also convicted or pleaded guilty in the case on similar charges. Handy’s sentence is the longest in the case, so far; two other people await sentencing.
Handy identified herself to police officers as a "blockade organizer," and admitted her role in social media posts, prosecutors said. She also used a fake name to schedule an appointment to gain access to the clinic. She identified herself using the fake name to a clinic worker as her co-defendants, one of whom had a bag of chains, locks and ropes, hid in the building’s stairwell, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said a nurse injured her ankle when another protester, Jay Smith, pushed her as he forcibly entered the clinic. Other defendants were accused of pushing or shoving clinic workers. Prosecutors said the obstruction Handy planned was "especially traumatic" for two clinic patients who testified at trial, one of whom was forced to climb through a window to receive care and another who collapsed in pain while being blocked from the clinic.
Facebook livestream videos of the protest show some protesters holding literature to pass out. Handy appears several times in the video, speaking with protesters and police officers. She also spoke with Darnel, who was narrating the livestream, and she described allowing a man in to join his partner after he promised to give her anti-abortion literature, but she said "under no circumstances" would a doctor who worked at the clinic be allowed to enter. The videos don’t show her handing out roses, although the videos total more than two and a half hours and Handy is not on screen the entire time.
Handy’s online bio says she has helped lead the "Red Rose Movement," an anti-abortion group that goes to abortion clinics and offers patients "red roses as a sign of life, peace and love."
Darnel, in the first video, described the protest as "historic" and said that he knew he and other protesters were breaking the law.
"These people are not just counseling inside of an abortion clinic, which is illegal. They are physically preventing women from going in to kill their children," he said. "This could mean severe criminal penalties for them. But it’s worth it."
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, when handing down her sentence, told Handy that "there may be nothing more American" than protests for and against abortion access, but the law doesn't allow "violence or obstructive conduct," The Washington Post reported.
"That’s what you’re being punished for, not your views on abortion nor your very American commitment to peaceful protest," Kollar-Kotelly said.
Rose’s claim that Handy was arrested for "handing out roses and resources" at an abortion protest understates what Handy was accused and convicted of doing. Protesters forcibly invaded a clinic and prevented patients from accessing care, prosecutors said. Rose issued a clarification after PolitiFact contacted her, correctly describing why Handy was convicted. Her original statement is False.
PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.
Our Sources
Lila Rose Instagram post, May 14, 2024 (archived)
Lila Rose X post, May 15, 2024
Email exchange, Noah Brandt, Live Action spokesperson, May 15, 2024
United States District Court for the District of Columbia, United States vs. Lauren Handy, April 12, 2024
Court Listener, United States v. HANDY (1:22-cr-00096), May 14, 2024
United States Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, Three Defendants Sentenced for Federal Civil Rights Conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Offenses, May 14, 2024
United States Attorney’s Office, District of Columbia, Seven Defendants Sentenced for Federal Conspiracy Against Rights and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act Convictions Related to 2020 D.C. Clinic Invasion and Blockade, May 15, 2024
The Associated Press, Anti-abortion activist who led a clinic blockade is sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison, May 14, 2024
The Associated Press, Feds: 9 charged with blocking DC reproductive health clinic, March 30, 2022
The Washington Post, Antiabortion activist who kept fetuses convicted of blocking clinic, Aug. 29, 2023
The Washington Post, Antiabortion activist who kept fetuses sentenced in clinic blockade, May 14, 2024
DC Area Anti-Abortion Advocacy, Rescue at Washington abortion clinic!, Oct. 22, 2020
DC Area Anti-Abortion Advocacy, Police arrest and remove rescuers, Oct. 22, 2020
Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Lauren Handy bio, accessed May 15, 2024
Red Rose Rescue, Mission statement, accessed May 15, 2024
Congress, S.636 - Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, accessed May 17, 2024
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Activist sentenced for blocking Washington, D.C., abortion clinic's entry, not for handing out roses
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