Washington, D.C. – Today, Concerned Women for America Legislative Action Committee (CWALAC) blasted the sentencing of Lauren Handy, Director of Activism at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), who has been sentenced to four years and nine months in federal prison under the F.A.C.E. Act (Federal Access to Clinic Entrance) for attempting to save unborn children and prevent federal crimes such as partial birth abortion.

“This sentencing of Lauren Handy is a tragic injustice and exposes the abuse of the system when it comes to pro-life activism,” said Penny Nance, CEO and President of CWALAC. “In policy and practice, the F.A.C.E. Act is an unjust law that must be repealed. It is an unconstitutional breach of the states’ police power, and the Biden Administration has used it to attack political opponents most blatantly. Lauren was trying to save lives and expose unlawful activity going on at an abortion clinic and is being unjustly punished.”

In 2023, nine pro-life activists were arrested and indicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for a nonviolent sit-in at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C., where they recovered the remains of five post viability abortion victims known as “The DC Five.” Handy and two other PAAU activists are being sentenced this month.

“This is why now the U.S. Department of Justice is seeking to destroy the gruesome evidence of the five babies whose lives were likely taken through late-term abortion in Washington, D.C.,” said Nance. “They want to cover up the evidence of the real crime that may have taken place at that abortion clinic, the tragic murder of children viable outside the womb.

“Americans who believe in the sanctity of every human life deserve First Amendment protections. It is time for Congress to step in and put an end to the Biden Administration’s politically-motivated civil and human rights violations under the F.A.C.E. Act.”