Chilling find in home of anti-abortion activist: 'People will freak out'
An anti-abortion activist has been taken into custody after authorities made a disturbing discovery in her Washington DC home.
Following a tip about "potential bio-hazard material" inside a home in southeast Washington on Wednesday, five foetuses were found inside Lauren Handy's home.
Ms Handy is a self-proclaimed anti-abortion activist, who also previously referred to herself as a "Catholic anarchist".
Washington news station WUSA9 was at the scene as officers from the DC Police Department searched her home, taking out evidence in biohazard bags and coolers.
Investigative reporter for the station Nathan Baca asked Ms Handy what detectives were removed from their home.
"People will freak out when they hear," Handy reportedly said, police later confirmed five foetuses were collected by Washington's medical examiner.
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Ms Handy also reportedly said they expected the raid "sooner or later" and was one of nine activists indicted this week on federal charges alleging the group blocked access to a reproductive health centre.
Ms Handy is the director of activism at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU).
On Facebook, PAAU confirmed Lauren Handy was detained by the FBI "in connection with a Rescue from two years ago in Washington DC".
When I asked anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy what homicide detectives pulled out of her house Wednesday, she only said, “people will freak out when they hear.” @DCPoliceDept now says it found 5 fetuses. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/9Uvm7JY9dQ
— Nathan Baca (@NathanBacaTV) March 31, 2022
'I wanted to die': Harrowing post days before discovery
Ms Handy said on March 9 activists "gained access" to foetal organ labs and freezers at the University of Washington.
However, the Guardian reported the university said the cold storage area was locked and nothing was taken.
"We saw bags filled with aborted baby body parts that will be used in experimentations all across the universities in America," Ms Handy wrote on Facebook.
"It was very hard to process what we were all seeing. Shock, anger, disgust and overwhelming sense of acute grief — rows and rows of bags filled with dead babies. For myself, it was too much. A complete sensory overload. I wanted to die."
According to a press release, the activists were from PAAU, Survivors of the Abortion Holocaust, Pro-Life San Francisco, and Rehumanize International.
On Twitter, PAAU made a statement saying the group would "address the claims surrounding the 5 deceased children" found at Ms Handy's home on Tuesday.
On Twitter in 2019, Handy said the Greek mythology tragedy Sophocles’ Antigone "cemented" their "desire" to "liberate the bodies of aborted babies from medical waste companies and give them a proper burial".
Activist indicted same day as the raid
Ms Handy was one of nine people charged in an indictment that was made public on Wednesday that accused the group of travelling to Washington, blocking access to the reproductive health centre and streaming it on Facebook.
In the indictment, prosecutors said Ms Handy had called the clinic pretending to be a prospective patient and scheduling an appointment.
On October 22, 2020, eight of the suspects pushed their way inside and began blocking the doors, according to the indictment.
Five of them chained themselves together on chairs to block the treatment area as others blocked the employee entrance to stop other patients from coming inside, the indictment alleges.
Another suspect blocked people from coming into the waiting room, prosecutors charge.
Handy and the eight others were charged with conspiracy against rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, which prohibits physically obstructing or using the threat of force to intimidate or interfere with a person seeking reproductive health services.
Speaking to Buzzfeed News following the discovery of the foetuses, a spokesperson for PAAU said the foetuses were obtained from the same clinic from the October 2020 incident.
However, the spokesperson said the foetuses were obtained at a different time.
"On a different time, the babies were retrieved," the spokesperson told Buzzfeed News.
"There's a direct connection. We're going to lay out a timeline."
With Associated Press
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