Five Pro-Life Advocates Found Guilty, Face 11 Years in Prison
Five pro-life advocates have been found guilty of violating a federal law protecting abortion centers and now face the possibility of 11 years in prison.
Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, and Herb Geraghty were each found guilty on all counts the Biden administration brought against them for allegedly violating the FACE law. The jury found all of the defendants guilty of both charges they faced in court and they were takne into custody. They will stay in federal prison util sentencing, which will take place after a second trial starting September 6 for the other pro-life advocates involved in the rescue.
The trial began August 9 and the five pro-life advocates were charged with conspiracy and violation of the FACE Act, signed into law in 1994 by former President Bill Clinton.
The FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act prohibits individuals from attempting to injure, intimidate, or interfere (by use of force, threat of force, or physical obstruction) with anyone obtaining or performing an abortion.
The pro-lifers on trial conducted a rescue at the Washington Surgi-Clinic operated by the notorious late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo who was busted by a LiveAction undercover investigator for admitting that he would not help a child with life-saving efforts if he or she survived a late-term abortion. He emphatically stated that a nearby hospital’s efforts to save the life of a child he was trying to abort was “the stupidest thing they could have done.”
Lauren Handy and Herb Geraghty cited those videos as the reason for the rescue and protest at the abortion business because of the concern babies might be left to die. They chained themselves to the entrace of the abortion center in an attempt to stop abortions.
Last March, some of the rescuers currently on trial were given 115 aborted babies by the driver of a medical waste van outside Santangelo’s late-term abortion facility. The babies were well-developed – second and possibly third trimester. Their remains are still in a vault at the D.C. medical examiner’s office.
In October 2020, about two months after the remains were obtained, the nine pro-lifers blocked the entrance of the abortion facility and protesting abortion.
