Nine anti-abortion individuals await a May sentencing for their part in trying to rescue babies from Washington late-term abortion provider Cesare Santangelo.

Some Republican members of Congress have acted to stop President Biden’s Justice Department from handling of evidence in the case — specifically, authorizing the D.C. Medical Examiner to dispose of the bodies of five late- term/full-term aborted babies recovered from the trash of Santangelo’s Washington Surgi-Clinic.

In October of 2020 — believing Santangelo was performing late-term, illegal partial-birth abortions and allowing babies born alive following failed abortions to die without treatment (he’s on videotape boasting about this) — nine anti-abortion activists, including my brother John, staged a peaceful, prayerful sit-in inside what the Daily Wire’s Michael Knowles termed Santangelo’s “infanticide factory.”

They were arrested, and charged locally with trespassing.

A year-and-a-half later, one of the rescuers, Lauren Handy, and another female member of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), discovered what they claim were the remains of more than 100 aborted babies — including five fully formed, late-term or full-term infants — in trash being picked up from a Washington clinic .

The rescuers arranged proper burial for most of the mangled, mutilated remains.

Additionally, they contacted authorities, asking that the bodies of the five fully formed babies be picked up, autopsied, and an investigation be undertaken to determine whether they had been illegally killed in violation of either the federal ban on partial-birth abortions, or the federal Born Alive Infants Protection Act.

Instead, the FBI swooped in with pre-dawn raids to arrest Lauren and eight others who had taken part in the rescue a-year-and-a-half-earlier, now charging them with violating the federal FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act.

They were subsequently convicted, and now face up to 11 years in prison — for doing, as one anti-abortion attorney pointed out, exactly what we honor the  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. for having done — engaging in peaceful civil disobedience to protest injustice.

Meanwhile, Santangelo’s possible violation of federal laws goes uninvestigated; and in early February, Martin Cannon, one of the Thomas More Society lawyers involved in the case, reported receiving a call from the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office telling him the Department of Justice had advised them that there was no longer any need to keep the babies’ bodies.

The Daily Signal, the online news site of the Heritage Foundation that has been reporting extensively on this case, blew the whistle, and anti-abortion members of Congress sprung into action.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, threatened Congressional hearings if the medical examiner disposed of the bodies which are potential evidence of Santangelo’s alleged criminal activity.

Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas,  and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., led a news conference attended by scores of congressional members and anti-abortion activists, demanding that these bodies be preserved and autopsied, Santangelo investigated, and the infants ultimately be given a proper burial.

“Lauren Handy, Terrisa Bukovinac, and the others who found these children should be commended for their bravery,” Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., a new mother herself, told The Daily Signal. “Congress needs to demand an investigation into this whole incident. D.C. and Cesare Santangelo cannot get away with this, and there needs to be full retribution of their crimes.”

Finally, after denying to the Daily Signal that the DOJ advised them to destroy the bodies— Cannon insists that is what they told him — the medical examiner’s office, in the face of what the Daily Signal described as “many calls from D.C. lawmakers to stop the disposal of the babies’ remains,” told the American Center for Law and Justice that they will not immediately dispose of the bodies (although they gave no “timeline” for doing so in the future, the Daily Signal reports.

So for the moment, the bodies of these babies will not be destroyed.

They are available as gruesome evidence if the medical examiner’s office or the DOJ — perhaps under new leadership next year — ever get around to investigating allegations of Santangelo’s Gosnell-like actions.

In the meantime, the nine courageous anti-abortion prisoners will be sentenced on May 14 and May 15 in Washington, D.C.

Please continue to pray: for these nine prisoners; for Paul Vaughn and five other peaceful, prayerful anti-abortion protesters in Tennessee who were similarly arrested by the FBI in terrorizing, armed pre-dawn raids; similarly convicted on the same FACE Act charges; and similarly facing draconian sentences of up to 11 years in prison.

Please pray also for their families.

Pray for all the volunteers at anti-abortion pregnancy centers across the country being terrorized by violent attacks — since Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973) was overturned with the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs vs. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, 597 U.S. 215 (2022) — with virtually no protection from a Biden FBI and DOJ who are too busy keeping the country safe from those who are prayerful and anti-abortion. 

Most of all, please continue to pray for all those innocent babies who these anti-abortion activists and pregnancy resource centers are trying to save from gruesome deaths.

(A related article may be found here.)

For three decades, Rick Hinshaw has given voice to faith values in the public square, as a columnist, then editor of The Long Island Catholic; communications director for the Catholic League and the New York State Catholic Conference; co-host of “The Catholic Forum,” on cable. He is now editor of his own blog, “Reading the Signs.” Visit Rick’s home page at rickhinshaw.com. Read Rick Hinshaw’s Reports — More Here.

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