Five Fetuses Found In Home Of Anti-Abortion Activist

5 fetuses were discovered in the house where an anti-abortion activist was staying.

Police officers were called to the home in Capitol Hill on the 400 block of 6th Street SE to investigate a tip about potential bio-hazard material in the residence. When they entered the home, they discovered five fetuses, police said. The remains were collected by the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.

The home was occupied by Lauren Handy, an anti-abortion activist who was indicted along with nine others Wednesday by a federal grand jury. Handy is accused of felony conspiracy against rights for a blockade inside a D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020.

WUSA9’s camera was outside as DC Police homicide and forensic services detectives took evidence out in red biohazard bags and coolers from the rowhouse’s basement.

Handy declined to speak on camera Wednesday, but told WUSA9 she expected the raid to happen “sooner or later.” She also declined to say what was in the coolers, saying only that “people would freak out when they heard.”

When I asked anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy what homicide detectives pulled out of her house Wednesday, she only said, “people will freak out when they hear.” @DCPoliceDept now says it found 5 fetuses. @wusa9 pic.twitter.com/9Uvm7JY9dQ

— Nathan Baca (@NathanBacaTV) March 31, 2022

DC Police Executive Assist. Chief of Police; Ashan M. Benedict told reporters Thursday that the fetuses appeared to have been aborted following D.C. law.

“There doesn’t appear to be anything criminal about that — except for how they got into that house,” Benedict said.

Benedict said the investigation that led officers to Handy’s home was separate from the federal investigation that resulted in her indictment Wednesday. He declined to comment on whether the department was working with agencies in other states, saying it was “day one” of the case.

WUSA9 tried to reach out to Handy on Thursday for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, where Handy serves as director of activism, also did not immediately respond to a request for comment but tweeted later on Thursday that the organization planned to “address the claims surrounding the 5 deceased children found at Lauren Handy’s apartment at a press conference in DC.” The press conference is to take place on Tuesday at 11:30 a.m., but no other information was given.

We will address the claims surrounding the 5 deceased children found at Lauren Handy’s apartment at a press conference in DC. Tune in on Tuesday at 11:30am EST.

Don’t miss it.

— PAAU (@PAAUNOW) March 31, 2022

D.C. Superior Court records show Handy has a history of legal issues related to her anti-abortion activities. A D.C. charter school filed a civil complaint against her for trespassing in December 2015. She was arrested for unlawful assembly outside the school earlier that year, and at different locations in 2019 and in January for unlawful entry and blocking an entrance. Only of those cases resulted in more than a ticket. That case stemmed from a March 2019 arrest at the Washington Surgi-Clinic — the same clinic in the indictment Handy now faces. The charge was dropped in July 2019 for want of prosecution.

In the indictment unsealed Wednesday, prosecutors say Handy called the clinic pretending to be a woman named “Hazel Jenkins” who needed an abortion and made an appointment for the morning of Oct. 22, 2020. That morning, Handy allegedly approached a clinic employee and said she was Hazel Jenkins there for her appointment. When the employee opened the door, the indictment says, Handy and the other co-defendants forced their way into the clinic. In the process they allegedly knocked the clinic employee over, causing her to injure her ankle.

Once inside, the defendants allegedly moved chairs to block the entrance to the clinic’s treatment area and used chains and rope to tie them together.

DC Police have not announced any arrests in connection with the fetuses but said the investigation is ongoing.

The question still remains that “what are the fetuses doing in Hardy’s apartment?”

We will bring you more updates as the matter unfolds.