On March 30, 28-year-old Lauren Handy, an anti-abortion activist in Washington D.C. was found to have five unborn fetuses in her home the same day she and nine other anti-abortion advocates were arrested with federal civil rights offenses. This happened after the Metro Police were tipped off about potential bio-hazardous activity going on in her home. Handy is an activist who heads the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising and she founded the Mercy Missions group in the D.C. area. Both groups are devoted to stopping abortion or as Handy stated, “Creative interventions to dismantle violent institutions.”

Handy claimed that she “liberated the fetuses” from the fetal tissue and organ bank at the University of Washington in Seattle. However, the bank said that on the date in question, March 9, the fetuses were locked away in a room and no contents were taken. The D.C. medical examiner’s office, for the ongoing investigation, could not find where the location of these fetuses came from, they only knew the age. A spokesperson for the police department said they could not comment on anything happening with the case since it was still ongoing. Ashan Benedict, the D.C. Police Executive Assistant Chief, stated to reporters on April 7 that the fetuses were aborted following D.C law. So the mystery remains as to where Handy got ahold of them. 

As mentioned previously, Handy has a lengthy history of violating the law which includes unlawful entry and assembly of people, blocking entryways, and trespassing. She is also one of the nine anti-abortion activists, as stated previously,  who was charged with federal civil rights offenses that occurred in October of 2020. Handy and her group blocked access to a reproductive health clinic, chained themselves to chairs, and yelled for people not to get abortions. All the while, it was live-streamed on Facebook. The group violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act, which prohibits blocking the entrance to or intimidating others to not go into abortion clinics.

When Handy’s house was raided on Wednesday, the police found the fetuses in biohazard bags and coolers. Handy said to WUSA9, off-camera, that the police raid would have happened sooner or later. She stated, “People would freak out when they heard.” Handy also refused to tell the news station what was exactly in the coolers that were being removed from her home, but many speculate the fetuses were inside them

In an interview with the Pillar, Handy said, “It is our duty to not follow an unjust law … if we look at the rich Catholic history of people who did not follow unjust laws, we can look at the early Christians who were going to be killed getting children … and you would’ve been killed if you were caught trying to retrieve the children from the exposure wall.” Handy talked about how children in ancient Rome, babies would be left at exposure walls, which is also called a foundling wheel. A foundling wheel was a barrel that was attached to a wall of a convent that mothers would leave their children without being seen. However, the Pillar could not confirm if what she said was true. As more comes out about the situation, Handy will gain a trial date and will face the consequences for her actions.