PEACEFUL PROGRESSIVE PRO-LIFE ACTIVISTS STAND TRIAL UNDER FACE ACT
WASHINGTON DC — On Wednesday August 9th 2023, 5 of the ten (10) anti-abortion activists indicted under the FACE (Freedom of Access Clinic Entrances) Act will stand trial at the Prettyman Federal Courthouse at (address) including Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) Director of Activism Lauren Handy and Board of Directors member Herb Geraghty.
At 8am, the defendants, national pro-life leaders, their allies, and legal counsel with the Thomas More Society will hold a press conference and demonstration outside the court. Jury selection will begin at 9am.
In 2022, ten (10) activists were indicted under FACE for allegedly blocking access to the Washington Surgi-Center in October of 2020, a late-term abortion center in Washington D.C. run by notorious abortion provider Cesare Santangelo.
In addition to prohibiting blocking access to abortion centers, the FACE Act includes similar protections for churches and pro-life pregnancy centers.
Since the enactment of the FACE Act in 1994, 126 pro-life activists have been charged under the law as opposed to fewer than 3 pro-abortion advocates.
This is despite the more than 70 instances of violence committed against churches and pregnancy centers-including firebombings since the overturning of Roe vs. Wade.
Many advocates including U.S. House Rep. Chip Roy (TX) have called for the repeal of FACE, citing the unequal application as evidence that the US Department of Justice is weaponizing the law to unjustly target peaceful nonviolent pro-life activists.
The defendants are each charged with one count of violating FACE and one count of conspiracy to “deny a right”. Attorneys for the defendants argued in a motion to dismiss that post Dobbs v. Jackson-the Supreme Court ruling that overturned Roe vs. Wade- there is no federally protected right to abortion. Judge Kollar-Kotelly denied the motion on the grounds that abortion businesses are protected under the federal commerce clause and therefore subject to FACE protections.
Handy and the other defendants have insisted that their intention was not to deny rights but to prevent federal crimes from taking place, most notably instances of infanticide and partial birth abortion which are prohibited under the Born Alive Infant Protection Act and the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act.
The defendants had reason to believe these crimes were taking place based on undercover footage of Santangelo filmed in 2012 in which he explains that in the event a child were born alive during an abortion procedure he would leave the child to die.
Further evidence of Santangelo’s crimes against born alive infants surfaced in March of 2022 when Handy and her colleague Terrisa Bukovinac, founder of PAAU, recovered a box labeled “medical waste” outside Washington Surgi-Center containing the remains of 115 abortion victims including 5 post viability babies. Three of the five appeared to be victims of federal crimes. An autopsy to investigate their cause of death has yet to be conducted.
Speakers at the press conference include:
Terrisa Bukovinac, Founder of PAAU
Lauren Handy, Defendant
Herb Geraghty, Defendant
Dr. Monica Miller, Citizens for a Pro-life Society
A speaker will also be present representing Concerned Women for America
Press contact:
Kristin Turner
530-440-2977