WASHINGTON — An anti-abortion activist who led others in an invasion and blockade of a reproductive health clinic in the nation’s capital was sentenced Tuesday to nearly five years in prison.
Lauren Handy, 30, was one of several people convicted of federal civil rights crimes for blocking access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic on October 22, 2020. Police found five fetuses in Handy’s Washington home after she was charged.
A clinic nurse sprained her ankle when one of Handy’s co-defendants entered the clinic and pushed her. Another co-defendant approached a woman who was having contractions, preventing her from getting off the floor to enter the clinic, prosecutors said.
In the clinic’s waiting room, Handy instructed the blockers to link themselves together with locks and chains and block the doors. A co-suspect used social media to live stream the blockade, which lasted several hours before police arrested the participants.
Handy declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced her to four years and nine months in prison.
Handy’s supporters applauded as she was led out of the courtroom. “You’re a hero, Lauren!” one of them shouted.
The judge told Handy she was being punished for her actions, not her beliefs.
“The law does not protect violent or obstructive behavior, nor should it,” Kollar-Kotelly said.
Prosecutors gave Handy a prison sentence of about six years. They described her as an anti-abortion extremist who was a “criminal mastermind” behind the invasion of Washington and similar attacks on other clinics.
“Her strong anti-abortion beliefs led her to devise a plan to block access to the surgical clinic,” prosecutors wrote. crime and has traumatized the victims.”
A jury convicted Handy on two charges: conspiracy against rights and violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, commonly known as the FACE Act.
Defense attorneys requested a one-year prison sentence for Handy, who has been in prison since her conviction in August 2023. Her lawyers describe her as a compassionate activist who is “deeply concerned about the vulnerable communities she serves.”
“Her purpose in life is to protect those who cannot protect themselves, and to empower those who do not feel they have any power,” the lawyers wrote.
Handy’s nine co-defendants were Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell, of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni, from Michigan; and Herb Geraghty, of Pennsylvania.
Smith was sentenced last year to ten months behind bars. Hinshaw, Idoni and Goodman were also scheduled to be sentenced Tuesday. Darnel, Geraghty, Marshall and Bell will be sentenced on Wednesday. Harlow’s sentencing is set for May 31.
“These are good people who don’t want to hurt anyone on purpose,” said Martin Cannon, one of Handy’s attorneys. ‘Lauren has taken enough time. Send Lauren home. Send them all home.”
Darnel joined Handy in planning and leading the invasion of the Washington clinic, using social media to recruit participants and discuss their plans, prosecutors said.
Handy used a fake name to make a fake appointment at the clinic on the morning of the invasion. When a clinic employee opened a door to let patients in, the defendants pushed their way in as Darnel livestreamed the blockade.
“While the co-defendants were conducting the blockade, Handy used a rope stretched across the entrance threshold to obstruct access to the clinic waiting room,” prosecutors wrote. “After the blockade was successfully executed, Handy briefly left the building to act as the group’s police liaison.”
The judge said Handy and her fellow activists showed no compassion or empathy for the patients who could not receive care that day.
“No caring or sympathetic gestures at all,” Kollar-Kotelly said.
Handy and some of her co-defendants also blocked reproductive health clinics in Silver Spring, Maryland, and Alexandria, Virginia, after the Washington invasion, prosecutors said.
Handy’s attorneys said she founded and operates a nonprofit organization, Mercy Missions, that “helps families and mothers in crisis pregnancies.” Before her arrest in March 2022, she also joined a group called Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.