Activist sentenced for blocking Washington, D.C., abortion clinic's entry, not for handing out roses

An anti-abortion activist convicted for her role in the October 2020 invasion and blockade of a Washington, D.C.-area abortion clinic was sentenced May 14 to 57 months in prison.

Lauren Handy, the activism and mutual aid director for the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, was convicted in August 2023 of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a 1994 law that prohibits obstructing entrances to reproductive health clinics. She was also found guilty on a felony civil rights charge. 

Lila Rose, the founder of the anti-abortion group Live Action, said on social media that Handy’s sentence was too severe for her actions.

"30-year-old pro-life activist Lauren Handy has just been sentenced to 57 months in federal prison for handing roses and resources to women at an abortion facility," Rose wrote in a May 14 Instagram post. "Meanwhile, abortionists who dismember and kill children walk free. A grave injustice!"

The post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Rose’s claim, however, misstates the reason for Handy’s conviction. After PolitiFact contacted Rose, Live Action spokesperson Noah Brandt referred us to Rose's May 15 X post that clarified her claim. She made the same clarification on her Instagram post. Here is the original archived version.

"CLARIFICATION: While Lauren has passed out roses and offered counseling and resources at many abortion facilities, Lauren and fellow defendants were convicted of violating the FACE Act — a law that has primarily been used to penalize pro-life activism — for their participation in a non-violent sit-in at Cesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C. late-term abortion facility," she wrote, in a post that went on to criticize the conviction and sentence as unjust.

Prosecutors, in their sentencing memorandum, said Handy and her co-defendants planned a "lock-and-block" invasion of the Washington Surgi-Clinic, "during which they used force and physical obstructions to interfere with access to the clinic."

Handy planned, organized and directed the protest, which lasted for several hours on Oct. 22, 2020, prosecutors said. Co-defendant Jonathan Darnel, who livestreamed the event, also co-organized the event. He was sentenced May 15 to 34 months in prison.

Eight other activists were also convicted or pleaded guilty in the case on similar charges. Handy’s sentence is the longest in the case, so far; two other people await sentencing.

Handy identified herself to police officers as a "blockade organizer," and admitted her role in social media posts, prosecutors said. She also used a fake name to schedule an appointment to gain access to the clinic. She identified herself using the fake name to a clinic worker as her co-defendants, one of whom had a bag of chains, locks and ropes, hid in the building’s stairwell, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said a nurse injured her ankle when another protester, Jay Smith, pushed her as he forcibly entered the clinic. Other defendants were accused of pushing or shoving clinic workers. Prosecutors said the obstruction Handy planned was "especially traumatic" for two clinic patients who testified at trial, one of whom was forced to climb through a window to receive care and another who collapsed in pain while being blocked from the clinic.

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Facebook livestream videos of the protest show some protesters holding literature to pass out. Handy appears several times in the video, speaking with protesters and police officers. She also spoke with Darnel, who was narrating the livestream, and she described allowing a man in to join his partner after he promised to give her anti-abortion literature, but she said "under no circumstances" would a doctor who worked at the clinic be allowed to enter. The videos don’t show her handing out roses, although the videos  total more than two and a half hours and Handy is not on screen the entire time.

Handy’s online bio says she has helped lead the "Red Rose Movement," an anti-abortion group that goes to abortion clinics and offers patients "red roses as a sign of life, peace and love." 

Darnel, in the first video, described the protest as "historic" and said that he knew he and other protesters were breaking the law.

"These people are not just counseling inside of an abortion clinic, which is illegal. They are physically preventing women from going in to kill their children," he said. "This could mean severe criminal penalties for them. But it’s worth it."

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, when handing down her sentence, told Handy that "there may be nothing more American" than protests for and against abortion access, but the law doesn't allow "violence or obstructive conduct," The Washington Post reported.

"That’s what you’re being punished for, not your views on abortion nor your very American commitment to peaceful protest," Kollar-Kotelly said.

Rose’s claim that Handy was arrested for "handing out roses and resources" at an abortion protest understates what Handy was accused and convicted of doing. Protesters forcibly invaded a clinic and prevented patients from accessing care, prosecutors said. Rose issued a clarification after PolitiFact contacted her, correctly describing why Handy was convicted. Her original statement is False.

PolitiFact Researcher Caryn Baird contributed to this fact-check.