{"id":2015804,"date":"2023-08-29T16:52:02","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/five-pro-lifers-found-guilty-of-face-act-violations-for-protesting-at-late-term-abortion-facility\/"},"modified":"2023-08-29T16:53:30","modified_gmt":"2023-08-29T20:53:30","slug":"five-pro-lifers-found-guilty-of-face-act-violations-for-protesting-at-late-term-abortion-facility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/five-pro-lifers-found-guilty-of-face-act-violations-for-protesting-at-late-term-abortion-facility\/","title":{"rendered":"Five pro-life activists convicted of violating the FACE Act for protesting at a late-term abortion clinic."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">32<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffive-pro-lifers-found-guilty-of-face-act-violations-for-protesting-at-late-term-abortion-facility%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2015804&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div>\n<div>\n<h2>Pro-Life Activists Found \u2064Guilty \u2064for Violating FACE Act<\/h2>\n<p>Five \u200b<a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/americans-remember-the-48th-annual-march-for-life\/\" title=\"Americans remember the 48th annual March for Life\">pro-life activists<\/a> were found guilty Tuesday \u200bin a \u200dfederal \u200dcourt for violating the \u200cFreedom of\u200b Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) \u200dAct, a Clinton-era law passed to stop sit-ins at abortion facilities. \u2063They \u2064were also charged and\u2062 found \u200cguilty\u2063 of one count\u200c of conspiracy to block the entrance to the Washington Surgi-Clinic\u2062 in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n<p>The defendants, \u200dLauren Handy, Will\u2063 Goodman,\u200d John Hinshaw,\u2064 Heather Idoni, and Herb Geraghty, were \u2064part\u200c of a group\u200d of pro-life activists who participated in an October 2020 \u200drescue and protest at the Washington Surgi-Clinic, operated \u200dby the \u2062late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo.<\/p>\n<p>Handy\u2019s lawyers at the \u2064Thomas More Society described the pro-life activists\u2019 actions that \u2064day: \u201cSome simply kneeled and prayed at Santangelo\u2019s facility, \u200dsome passed out <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/watch-i-was-not-just-a-lump-of-cells-pa-senate-candidate-conceived-in-rape-accuses-dr-oz-of-flip-flopping-on-abortion\/\" title=\"WATCH: \u2018I Was Not Just A Lump Of Cells\u2019: PA Senate Candidate Conceived In Rape Accuses Dr. Oz Of Flip-Flopping On Abortion\">pro-life literature<\/a> and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together \u200dinside\u200b the facility.\u201d The\u2062 defendants could \u2063face up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines \u200dof up to $350,000.<\/p>\n<p>In 2013, Live Action <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NxOWyumLufA\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">released footage<\/a> of Santangelo stating he would \u200bdeny\u2064 medical care to babies born\u2064 alive after a failed abortion. \u200cWhen Lauren Handy took the stand last week, she cited that video as the\u200b impetus for organizing \u2062the October 2020 rescue at Santangelo\u2019s facility.<\/p>\n<p>Handy told the\u2063 jury: \u200c\u201cMy belief that was formed after watching\u2062 the \u2064video was\u2063 \u2026 if\u200d the fetus \u2062survived the abortion attempt, they were left to die\u201d at Santangelo\u2019s facility. It \u200dwas outside this same D.C. facility that\u200b the bodies of\u2063 <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/04\/13\/congressional-republicans-demand-investigation-into-deaths-of-five-pre-born-babies-found-in-dc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">115 preborn babies<\/a> were recovered in \u200cMarch of 2022. \u2064At least\u2064 five \u200bof the babies were\u200d significantly larger \u2014 between 20 to 40 weeks gestational age, with\u200d one boy appearing nearly\u2064 full term.<\/p>\n<p>The charges of violating the FACE Act and conspiracy to do so come\u200d on the heels of other federal authorities\u200c <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/28\/the-face-act-is-unconstitutional-its-past-time-congress-got-rid-of-it\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">using the law<\/a> as \u201ca weapon for federal \u2062law \u2063enforcement to unconstitutionally brandish against its political dissidents.\u201d \u2062Last fall, the FBI used the FACE Act to terrorize and arrest pro-life Catholic father Mark Houck\u2062 in \u200cfront of his wife and children,\u2063 even though the\u2062 FACE Act was \u200dultimately not applicable to his altercation outside a Planned \u200cParenthood.<\/p>\n<p>In closing \u2063arguments\u2063 on Aug. \u200d24, Handy\u2019s counsel Martin Cannon <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thomasmoresociety.org\/news\/united-states-v-handy-closing-argument-of-martin-cannon-on-behalf-of-lauren-handy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">argued<\/a> \u200d that the defendant\u2019s actions \u201cdoesn\u2019t come close to violating FACE,\u201d and furthermore, asked the jury to consider \u200bhow\u200c it would even \u2062be\u2064 possible to \u200chave a conspiracy to violate a law when you\u2019re\u200c following your conscience and convictions:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow do you have a conspiracy to \u200dviolate FACE when\u200c the\u2063 supposed organizers don\u2019t even know\u200c what people are going to be doing?\u200d How do you have a conspiracy to violate FACE when everyone is told to just follow his conscience; when people\u2062 are \u200ctold to risk arrest or don\u2019t risk\u2063 arrest? It\u2019s up to you.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), of which Handy is a\u2063 member, said on Twitter that \u2062their defense attorneys believe they have \u201cstrong grounds to appeal and feel optimistic\u2064 that a\u200c higher court will later rule in their \u2064favor\u201d and that they \u201cmay even go to the\u2062 Supreme Court.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The defense attorneys feel they have strong \u2063grounds\u200b to appeal and\u200b feel optimistic that a higher court will later rule in their favor. This may even go all the way to the Supreme Court. In the meantime, our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/five-pro-lifers-found-guilty-of-face-act-violations-for-protesting-at-late-term-abortion-facility\/\" title=\"Five pro-life activists convicted of violating the FACE Act for protesting at a late-term abortion clinic.\">hero rescuers await sentencing<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>        \u200c  \u2062  \u2014 PAAU (@PAAUNOW) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PAAUNOW\/status\/1696592893572468966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">August 29, \u20632023<\/a>\n      <\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>Madeline Osburn is managing editor at The Federalist. Contact her at madeline@thefederalist.com or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/madelineorr\">follow her on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div data-image data-amount=\"5\">\n<h2>Popular<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/thefederalist.com\/#\"><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five pro-life activists were convicted in federal court for breaking the FACE Act, a law enacted during the Clinton era to prevent sit-ins at abortion clinics. They were also found guilty of conspiring to obstruct the entrance of the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":2015805,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2015804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-federalist"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2015804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2015804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2015805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2015804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2015804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2015804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}