The Daily Populous Thursday May 16th, 2024 morning edition
Authored by bbc.co.uk and submitted by greatdevonhope

An anti-abortion activist has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for blockading a clinic in Washington DC to stop patient access.

Lauren Handy, 30, led a group that forced entry into the Surgi-Clinic in 2020, injuring a nurse, before spending several hours inside.

She was one of several people convicted of civil rights offences last year over the incident.

Police later discovered five foetuses at her home after she was indicted.

Handy, a leader of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) group who describes herself as a "Catholic anarchist", was found guilty in August 2023 and sentenced on Tuesday.

She had denied a charge of using force to obstruct reproductive health care services, a crime under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.

Her trial heard that she had made an abortion appointment at the clinic on 22 October 2020, using the name Hazel Jenkins.

When she arrived, she and several others forced their way into the clinic. A nurse sprained her ankle when one of the group forced their way in.

The group remained inside for several hours, livestreaming the blockade on Facebook as they linked arms and used furniture, locks and chains to block the clinic's doors.

Handy and eight others were eventually arrested and charged with conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten and intimidate patients and employees.

US Attorney Matthew Graves said her conviction showed that "people cannot resort to using force... simply because they disagree with the law".

Two others members of the group have been sentenced to 21 months and 27 months in prison for their roles. Six more are due to be sentenced later this month.

Handy will serve three years of her sentence on supervised release.

bettinafairchild on May 15th, 2024 at 18:39 UTC »

BAD HEADLINE. She was jailed for forcing her way into the clinic, violently abusing the people in it, and preventing a woman in labor from getting treatment.

h0neybl0ss0m29 on May 15th, 2024 at 17:05 UTC »

> Police later discovered five foetuses at her home after she was indicted.

Well, if we go by her logic she technically had 5 dead children in her house.

AudibleNod on May 15th, 2024 at 16:53 UTC »

> Handy, a leader of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) group who describes herself as a "Catholic anarchist", was found guilty in August 2023 and sentenced on Tuesday.

"Catholic anarchist"? I guess we're throwing a hundreds of years of doctrine and hierarchy out the window then.