Who is Lauren Handy? What we know about anti-abortion activist pardoned by Trump

President Donald Trump issued a pardon for Lauren Handy, an anti-abortion activist who was found with fetal remains in her Capitol Hill home. Handy had been serving a five-year sentence since 2020 after she forcibly entered a Washington, D.C. clinic.

At the time, she allegedly blockaded patients from entering with the use of a false moniker, ropes, bike blocks, and chains. She was later charged with orchestrating a conspiracy to violate patients' rights as well as violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

Lauren Handy served as the Director of Activism of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising organization. She was one of nine anti-abortion activists arrested in October 2020. Following her indictment, officials uncovered the remains of five fetuses in her home in March 2022. They were initially directed there on a tip that claimed she was in possession of biohazard material.

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All we know about the case against Lauren Handy

The Independent has reported that Lauren Handy stole the fetal remains from a medical waste truck that was parked outside an abortion clinic. Reportedly, the fetuses were said to have been aborted in accordance with D.C. law.

Notably, she was never charged with anything related to the case, as the judge barred Handy from entering related evidence. As a result, the incident was not brought up during her trial on charges relating to the FACE Act.

“This is a great honor to sign this,” Trump said Thursday. “They should not have been prosecuted … Ridiculous.”

Steve Crampton, senior counsel with the anti-abortion advocacy group Thomas More Society, noted that the pardons were a “huge step towards restoring justice.”

Back in October 2020, Lauren Handy claimed that her modus operandi was a direct result of the "infanticide" she believed was taking place inside the clinic. As a result of her and her co-conspirators' actions, a nurse sprained her ankle while another woman was accosted while trying to make her way in as she was dealing with labor pain.

Inside the clinic, Handy and the other blockaders joined forces to prevent anyone from receiving treatment. One of the co-defendants live-streamed the entire debacle, which lasted for hours before the cops interjected and arrested them. Defense attorney Martin Cannon of the anti-abortion firm, The Thomas Moore Society, contended that Handy deserved an easier sentence.

He pointed out her philanthropic words, noting that she was a “peaceful, passive” person who didn't have violent tendencies:

“I am here to argue that his is a person of good faith who is acting out of conscience,” Cannon said.

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Apart from Handy, Trump also pardoned the following anti-abortion activists: Jonathan Darnel of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw, and William Goodman of New York; Joan Bell of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty of Pennsylvania.