In a statement to Breitbart News, ACLJ senior litigation counsel Olivia Summers said that while they are pleased with the OCME’s decision, “it is discouraging that so much effort and publicity was required to reach this result.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), one of the Republican lawmakers who led his colleagues in calling on D.C. officials to stop the disposal of the baby remains, also celebrated the news as a “welcome development.”
“We are so grateful for the work of ACLJ, PAAUNOW & everyone in the pro-life movement to prevent this evidence from being destroyed so that justice can be sought [for] these children,” Roy’s press office said in a statement to X.
WATCH — AJ Hurley: “We Need a Congressional Hearing” for the Five Late-Term Aborted Babies Discovered in D.C.:
Jack Knudsen
/ Breitbart News
The potential disposal of the babies came nearly two years after their discovery, along with 110 earlier-term babies. Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) activist Lauren Handy and PAAU’s founder and former executive director Terrisa Bukovinac allegedly found the aborted babies in a waste box in March 2022 outside of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, an abortion facility in Foggy Bottom infamous for late-term abortions.
The activists believe Washington Surgi-Clinic abortionist Dr. Cesare Santangelo may have aborted the five late-term babies in violation of federal law. Their belief is bolstered by a 2012
undercover video
from Live Action, which shows Santangelo allegedly saying he would not assist a baby who is born alive in a botched abortion. D.C. police
previously
told
Breitbart News via email that Santangelo was not under investigation.
Bukovinac
said
at the time that the babies had “a range of injuries, including a fully intact girl we named Harriet, who had one eye open and an incision in the back of her neck, her brain suctioned out and her skull crushed.” PAAU said another child was found intact, still contained in its amniotic sac.
Five days after their discovery, the DOJ charged Handy and eight other activists with conspiracy against rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in a separate incident involving a 2020 blockade on the Washington Surgi-Clinic. The activists, including Handy,
were
found
guilty
in August 2023 and have been sitting in an Alexandria, Virginia, jail awaiting sentencing. They face up to 11 years in federal prison.
During the trial, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly notably
barred
Handy’s attorneys from entering photos of the babies’ remains as evidence at trial. She also barred them from including the undercover Live Action video, which Handy’s attorneys argued had “lasting impact” on Handy’s decision to become a pro-life activist and said is “integral to understanding Lauren’s motive that day in October 2020.”
“The condition of those babies and the circumstances under which they died is still relevant to the case,” Cannon
told
the Daily Signal earlier this week. “It’s pertinent to sentencing. And I’ve been making some efforts lately to find another pathologist and see what we can do. And, of course, I have advised the medical examiner’s office of that.”
On Wednesday, Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to Attorney General Merrick Garland demanding he put a halt to the disposal of the five babies.
Cannon also wrote a letter on Wednesday to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), chair of the House Judiciary Committee, asking him to order a halt to the disposal. A coalition of 35 pro-life organizations additionally
urged
Congress to intervene.
Caroline Taylor Smith, Executive Director of PAAU, released a statement via email stating the “
immediate outpouring of love and action for these babies this week has been overwhelming.”
“This victory today is a testament to the fact that grassroots action does work, and is needed just as much as government action. The phone calls, emails, tweets, and letters that implored
Congress to act
ultimately led to this win,” Smith said. “The fight is however not over. Pressure will continue until these babies receive hearings and a proper burial. Keep up the fight!”
Katherine Hamilton is a political reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on X
@thekat_hamilton
.