Babies’ remains found in pro-life activist’s home

Metropolitan Police in Washington, D.C., responded to an anonymous tip about biohazardous waste in a Capitol Hill–area home. Homicide and forensic detectives found five unborn babies’ bodies in a cooler in a residence belonging to Lauren Handy, 28, a self-described “Catholic anarcho mutualist.” The medical examiner’s office collected the remains in red bags and opened an investigation. Neither Handy nor authorities have offered details on why she was storing them, but Handy told a local reporter “people will freak out when they hear.”

Who is Lauren Handy? The pro-life activist was indicted earlier this week with eight other people on federal charges of blocking access to a D.C. abortion center. Prosecutors accused Handy of making an appointment in 2020 under a false name to get access and allow the group to push their way inside and block doors. In 2021, Handy participated in a “Red Rose Rescue” in Ohio with pro-life leader Monica Migliorino Miller to convince women not to end their pregnancies. Miller has said she previously stored boxes of aborted babies’ bodies in her apartment to arrange burials for them. Handy is a leader of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, which recently visited an organ bank at the University of Washington and protested its storage of babies’ remains in paper bags.

Dig deeper: Read Leah Savas’ report in Vitals about a new wave of pro-life activists like Miller.