Biden Administration Sues Pro-Life Activists for Blocking Abortion Clinic

The complaint alleges violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

Pro-life activist Lauren Handy speaks at a news conference in Washington, on April 5, 2022. Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

The Biden administration has filed a federal lawsuit in Ohio against two organizations and seven individuals for blocking access to an abortion clinic.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) said it filed a lawsuit on May 20 in the Northern District of Ohio against Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and Red Rose Rescue—along with seven individuals, including Lauren Handy, who was recently sentenced to nearly 5 years in prison for blocking an abortion clinic in Washington—for alleged violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.

The FACE Act prohibits anyone from using force, threats of force, or physical obstruction against any individual who is seeking or providing reproductive services such as abortions.

Attorneys from the pro-life Thomas More Society—who represent one of the defendants in a different case—allege that the DOJ under President Joe Biden has abused the FACE Act to target and jail pro-lifers for peaceful protests on behalf of the unborn.

The other defendants in the case besides Ms. Handy, Citizens for a Pro-Life Society, and Red Rose Rescue are Laura Gies, Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Jay Smith, and Audrey Whipple. All are accused of FACE Act violations on June 4 and 5, 2021, by allegedly engaging in physical obstruction at two Ohio clinics that provide abortions.

“Defendants’ conduct as described in paragraphs 1 through 99 constitutes a physical obstruction that intentionally intimidated or interfered with persons, or an attempt to intimidate and/or interfere with such persons, because they were or had been providing reproductive health services,” reads the complaint.

The DOJ alleged that one of the facilities targeted by the defendants had to cancel its appointments for the day. At the other facility, one of the pro-life protesters allegedly physically grabbed a patient leaving the waiting room and pleaded with her not to go through with her abortion.

The lawsuit seeks compensatory damages, monetary penalties, and injunctive relief as provided by the FACE Act, per the complaint.

“Federal and state laws protect access to reproductive health care services,” U.S. Attorney Rebecca C. Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio said in a statement. “Individuals have the right to access facilities in Ohio to make decisions about their own bodies, health and futures, in consultation with health care providers, free from force, threats of force, intimidation or physical obstruction. Our office remains committed to enforcing the FACE Act to protect these important rights of both individuals and providers, whether or not the services provided include abortion care options, as they do here.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to Citizens for a Pro Life Society and Red Rose Rescue with a request for comment on the lawsuit. Attorneys for the remaining defendants were not immediately available for comment.

Monica Miller, the director of Citizens for a Pro-Life Society and one of the defendants named in the lawsuit told WORLD that the protests were peaceful and denied FACE Act violations, insisting that the protesters didn’t obstruct women’s movements inside the abortion clinics.

Thomas More Society attorneys, who represent one of the defendants, Ms. Handy, in a criminal case in Washington, have said that their appeal of her prison sentence will challenge the constitutionality of the FACE Act.

‘Miscarriage Of Justice’

According to earlier reporting from The Epoch Times, Ms. Handy was sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading a group of fellow activists to blockade a Washington clinic that performs abortions.

Ms. Handy and several other defendants were convicted by a jury in August 2023 of federal civil rights offenses for blockading access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic on Oct. 22, 2020. Ms. Handy was convicted on two charges: conspiracy against rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, more commonly known as the FACE Act.

An indictment alleged that Ms. Handy directed the actions of her fellow conspirators on that day, which included placing chairs to obstruct passage into the clinic’s treatment area and chaining and roping themselves together to block access.

U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced Ms. Handy to 57 months in prison (in practice lowered to 48 months due to time already served), plus three years of probation and a monetary fine, according to an opinion and memorandum issued on May 13.

“The law does not protect violent nor obstructive conduct, nor should it,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly, a Clinton appointee, said in court while handing down the sentence, per The Associated Press.

After Ms. Handy is released from prison in 2028, she will have to submit to a mental health assessment and treatment program, and she will be prohibited from knowingly entering or coming within 1,000 feet of an abortion facility, per court documents.

In a sentencing memorandum, prosecutors described Ms. Handy as an anti-abortion extremist who was a “criminal mastermind” behind the Washington abortion clinic blockade and similar actions at other clinics.

Prosecutors had asked for a six-and-a-half year sentence for Ms. Handy, while her attorneys called on the judge to show leniency with a 12-month sentence.

“For her efforts to peacefully protect the lives of innocent preborn human beings, Ms. Handy deserves thanks, not a gut-wrenching prison sentence,” Martin Cannon, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, said in a statement.

“We will vigorously pursue an appeal of Ms. Handy’s conviction and attack the root cause of this injustice, that is, the FACE Act—which we believe is unconstitutional and should never again be used to persecute peaceful pro-lifers,” he added.

Lauren Handy (C) joins fellow pro-life demonstrators outside the U.S. Supreme Court building in Washington, D.C., on May 23, 2022. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Prosecutors said that Ms. Handy planned and led the Washington clinic invasion, using social media to recruit participants and discuss their plans. She used a false name to book a fake appointment at the clinic on the morning of the invasion, prosecutors wrote in the sentencing memorandum.

When a clinic employee unlocked a door to admit patients, Ms. Handy and the co-defendants pushed their way in while livestreaming their actions on social media, which prosecutors said included stretching a rope across the entrance to the facility “to obstruct entry.”

Steve Crampton, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society, said in a statement that prosecutors’ version of events was a “caricature” and the 57-month sentence was a “miscarriage of justice.”

“As I’ve gotten to know Ms. Handy, I’ve seen up close her unwavering passion for pro-life advocacy and resolute dedication to nonviolence,” he said. “Ms. Handy should have been shown the same mercy that she has herself shown to countless many downtrodden throughout her young life.”

The DOJ did not respond to a request for comment on Ms. Handy’s case.