Lauren Handy gets nearly five years in prison for pro-life protest

U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly on Tuesday sentenced Lauren Handy to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release. A jury had convicted Handy in August 2023 of violating the Free Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act. The charges stemmed from an October 2020 protest. Federal prosecutors alleged in an indictment that Handy and eight other pro-life activists conspired together to block the entrance to an abortion facility in Washington, D.C. Prosecutors had requested up to six-an-a-half years while Handy’s attorneys sought a 12-month sentence amounting to time served.

What do pro-lifers have to say about this? Handy’s sentence was simply a miscarriage of justice, said Steve Crampton, a senior attorney with the nonprofit Thomas More Society representing Handy and other protesters. TMS Senior Counsel Martin Cannon added that Handy and the other protesters were protesting nonviolently and that each deserved a handshake rather than a gut punch.

What happens now? The Thomas More Society has promised to appeal Handy’s conviction and sentence and challenge the constitutionality of the FACE Act. Late last year, Senator Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, introduced legislation in the House of Representatives and the Senate to repeal the FACE Act. No votes have yet taken place on the legislation in either chamber.

Dig deeper: Listen to Leah Savas’ report on The World and Everything in It podcast about how the conviction of one of Handy’s compatriots, Heather Idoni, has affected her hometown community in Michigan.