In the picturesque neighborhood of Foggy Bottom in northwest Washington, D.C., a feeling of history and purpose follows you. The State Department and the Federal Reserve buildings line the streets. George Washington University occupies over 40 acres in the center of the community. But on F street, on the same block as GW dormitories, sits the Washington Surgi-Clinic, an abortion facility run by Cesare Santangelo, who performs gruesome late-term abortions on nearly full-term children.
At this facility an investigator from my organization, Live Action, recorded Santangelo describing — in his own words — his willingness to withhold medical care from infants born alive after a botched abortion, a violation of federal law. This investigation has inspired thousands to take action to defend innocent human life and protect children from abortion, including five pro-life activists who have been convicted of conspiracy to interfere with civil rights and violations of the FACE Act in connection with a rescue action at the Surgi-Clinic abortion facility in October 2020.
Facing over 10 years in federal prison, Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, and Herb Geraghty are currently detained in prison without bail as they await sentencing. This trial was a sham and made a mockery of our justice system. These activists are heroes who used nonviolent direct action to strive for justice, and the Biden Department of Justice has acted capriciously and illegitimately. For justice to prevail, this decision must be appealed and overturned, Congress must conduct vigorous oversight of the DOJ, and ultimately, the FACE Act must be repealed….
The FACE Act, or Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, was designed to levy unusually draconian punishments against pro-life activists in particular. Imagine making Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s nonviolent direct actions — such as sit-ins — a federal crime, and declaring his work in concert with other civil rights activists a conspiracy punishable by a decade or more in prison. That absurd notion should upset our consciences.
…. In cases like the Surgi-Clinic one, defendants are charged with violating the FACE Act and conspiracy to violate the FACE Act, which carries a massive 10-year potential prison sentence on its own. These activists — who are dedicated to protecting human life — are now facing 11 years in federal prison if they receive the maximum sentence.
….In 2012, a Live Action undercover investigation showed Dr. Santangelo admitting that any children accidentally born alive during abortions at his facility would not receive medical assistance to help them survive—neglect that is illegal under the federal Born-Alive Infants Protection Act.
The investigation further confirmed that Dr. Santangelo performs abortions by cutting the umbilical cord and waiting for the child to die, drastically increasing the chance that a child may be born alive and then killed, which is also illegal under the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act. Some of these activists — Lauren Handy, in particular — credited the Live Action video with educating and galvanizing them into action. This video was a key reason the defendants chose the D.C. facility as the location for their peaceful demonstration.
Lauren Handy’s legal team attempted to submit this video into evidence, emphasizing that it was the primary motivation for choosing Santangelo’s facility for the protest. But the judge refused. Both U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly and DOJ prosecutors claimed the video was “heavily edited,” calling it “gossip from propagandists….”
From Live Action’s Lila Rose commentary in Newsweek.
The persecution has begun. The wrong person is in prison.
Lila Rose is wrong. They committed crimes. The fact that she doesn’t like the law nor the punishment doesn’t invalidate the laws. The fact that Dr. Santangelo could be violating different laws doesn’t justify Lila’s favored activists violating other laws, nor does it excuse them.
I note that Lila isn’t committing crimes on behalf of the unborn. She’s not going to jail for a cause she says she believes in. Being a CEO is too cushy to give up. Jail is for the underlings.
The activists blocked access to an abortion center. That’s not in dispute. Doing so is a crime. That’s a fact of law. Guilty as charged. Don’t do it if you aren’t willing to face the consequences of conviction. Lila sure isn’t willing.
I’m not willing, either. But I don’t hypocritically support the activists, and I don’t try to justify or excuse their methods and actions.
Isn’t it easier just to post “Might makes right”?
Yes.That said, if this were not about protecting baby killers and their businesses; and were about some other type of trespassing or interfering with a business, do you honestly think “facing over 10 years in federal prison, Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, and Herb Geraghty are currently detained in prison without bail as they await sentencing” would be applicable? Criminals are usually given opportunities for bail. These activists for life are not flight risks or violent. BLM protesters shut down freeways and disrupted businesses with no consequences in most cases. Be honest, this about sex and abortion or the consequences would not be so severe. The double standard is obvious. No one I know is asking for special treatment, just equal treatment under the law.
And, why your anonymous personal attack on Ms. Rose?
She stands by her position publicly, with her good name and reputation. Are you willing to do the same?
I don’t see anything wrong with pointing out that some people are ivory tower and limousine professional prolife fundraisers who are unwilling to get in the trenches. People like Mrs. Rose encourage others to get arrested and face the consequences, but they are unwilling to engage in such activism themselves because they don’t want to go to jail. You could say that Mrs. Rose is directly responsible for ruining those activists’ lives. Mrs. Rose will continue being a CEO and going home to her family while the convicted activists are going to spend a decade in jail. That’s not good leadership, it’s self-serving manipulation. From Mrs. Rose’s standpoint, it gave her something to write about and be published in Newsweek.
Let’s do without self-appointed prolife generals who send their minions into the trenches to face jail.
Yet, you’re a self-appointed anonymous public critic. I have known the Rose family for a number of years and you’re slandering them. They are not ivory tower or limousine types. They’re some of the most committed Christians I’ve known. With young children currently, it doesn’t seem it’s a prudent time for Lila Rose to risk imprisonment. As I noted, Ms. Rose is taking her stand publicly (as am I). Why do you hide behind anonymity and call names and make false accusations? If you’re sure of your position, why won’t you state it publicly, with your name?
You can see who I am. If you’d like a mature, serious discussion of the matter of this gross double-standard or what Ms. Rose has written, feel free to email me (dcnanderson@ephx.org) and we can set up a time to talk.
We can do without self-appointed anonymous public critics who slander sisters and brothers.
Good for you, Deacon Craig.
There really was nothing wrong with his/her post.
I have been disturbed for days about that term “committed Christian.”
I have never seen that term before.
Lots of committed Christians break a lot of moral laws.
The lesbian ministers are committed Christians.
Kanye is a committed Christian.
Being a Christian means that you accept Jesus as Lord or your parents did when you were born.
A committed Christian means what in this case?
I am not asking for a moral inventory of Lila Rose.
What does being a committed Christian mean to you?
I do not approve of abortion at any time for any reason.
These people barricaded the door of a medical facility where a patient in distress was trying to enter for a procedure.
Think about those inside – they are already in a heightened state of emotion and anxious. then some people come in like lunatics and barricade the door.
The fact that they think they are above the law and that they will do it again is the reason they are being held without bail, I assume.
They have no remorse. They think they are martyrs.
As for Lila Rose, what good name and reputation?
Should Dietrich Bonhoeffer have expressed remorse for breaking the law and trying to remove Hitler from power?
Should Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. have expressed remorse for breaking the law?
Should Saints Peter and Paul have expressed remorse for breaking the law by preaching the gospel?
There is a difference between just laws and unjust ones.
St. Thomas Aquinas does not say that an unjust human law ceases to exist. Rather, he taught its authority is nullified. He wrote, “Laws can be unjust . . . by being contrary to the divine good, as are tyrannical laws that induce men to idolatry or to do anything else that is contrary to divine law.” Like killing babies and violently violating women and girls.
Some readers here seem more upset by these activists and Lila Rose pointing out the injustice than by the slaughter of innocents promoted by our Catholic president and Catholic governor.
Proved the point.
No, the point is that if you are going to break a law that you disagree with, you need to be willing to accept the punishment. You cannot claim, “It’s an unjust law, therefore they shouldn’t be convicted nor sentenced,” as Lila is claiming. Well, you can claim that, but don’t expect to be taken seriously. The activists are going to spend years in jail, and I bet they are already having regrets.
How is it an unjust law?
If you blockaded the door anywhere, you would be arrested.
Unfortunately, in some areas of the country, having an abortion is a civil right.
The 10 year charges come from conspiring to deprive people of their civil rights.
How is that unjust?
I disagree 1005 with legal or illegal abortion.
But the lawas are not unjust.
The Internet had to explain this to me.
After reading more about it and watching the FB video, they knew they would be arrested.
The Internet seems to think that it is an attempt to get the FACE act before the Supreme Court, which would make their statements about the sacrifice necessary to save babies make sense.
There isn’t anything wrong with being held in jail without bail for non violent civil disobedience when violent criminals are released routinely on bail? Hope you rest easy because if they can do that to these people there’s nothing stopping a regime you don’t agree with from doing it to you. Endorsing the precedent because you don’t like the message is short sighted. One day you’ll agree with the message and the precedent will stand.
Claiming “civil disobedience” is not a get out of jail free card. That’s not how it works. You think the Plowshare Eight should not have been convicted because they were acting on their consciences?
If you don’t like the law, work to change the law. If you think disobeying a law is the best way to work to change it, then you’d better be prepared to serve jail time.
I rest easy because I obey the law. Don’t cry foul when you break the law deliberately and are unwilling to accept the consequences of your acts.
It was not nonviolent.
They’ve been convicted. The trial phase is over. They will serve prison sentences; only question is how long. Their sentences start now.
I’d like to see more consistent justice too. Nevertheless, they did the crime, they were convicted, so they do the time. That’s the way the cookie crumbles.
What precedent are you talking about? That crime is punished? That’s a good precedent, and I favor it.
Don’t know about the commenter, but I rest easy. Retirement is the best years of life. This is the part where I take it easy. I definitely would not risk all that like those other 70 year olds did by doing something that would get me put in jail. Not worth it. You work hard your whole life just to die in prison because you blocked a pathway? Why do that? Keep a low profile and the golden years really are golden. I want to golf and travel and polish my car and enjoy my grandkids. I’m not gonna mess that up.
70 huh? Might have a different opinion in less than 30 years.
I want to give a thumbs up to a post, but it’s not letting me. Does this site bias thumbs by blocking undesired thumb clicks?
Cal Catholic has no control over thumbs.
Could be bugginess of WordPress – the system we use.
Catholics in our government share the guilt of serious sin by allowing such a travesty of justice. No crime to vandalize department stores in big cities or burn down the buildings of other small businesses, and endangering the lives and work ethics of law enforcement!
It is a crime to vandalize stores or burn down buildings or endanger law enforcement.
If you want to stop abortions in those areas where it still exists, instead of barricading a door, hand out money or help them sent up gofundme accounts or set up a website that pro-life people can send money to for them.
Set up a help center so they can finish school or do work or leave an abusive partner.
Why in 50 + years has the pro-life movement never done anything concrete to help people.
There are local centers that give baby supplies and diapers.
I heard of one in Orange County that committed to helping the family with whatever they needed until the baby turned 18 years old.
If Mrs. Pro-life gave half her salary, to a fund that gave people $20,000 at birth, she would save 50 babies a year.
Big Pro Life isn’t interested in saving babies. They are interested in fundraising off of the idea of saving babies.
Pro life people have done all those good things you have suggested and much more.
The reasons most frequently cited were that having a child would interfere with a woman’s education, work or ability to care for dependents (74%); that she could not afford a baby now (73%); and that she did not want to be a single mother or was having relationship problems (48%). Nearly four in 10 women said they had completed their childbearing, and almost one-third were not ready to have a child. Fewer than 1% said their parents’ or partners’ desire for them to have an abortion was the most important reason. Younger women often reported that they were unprepared for the transition to motherhood, while older women regularly cited their responsibility to dependents.
This is from Guttmacher. Their last figures they show on how many abortions in US: 0ver 80,000 per month.
Talk is cheap. How much have you given to save babies?
I’d bet “Mrs. Pro-life,” whoever that may be, has given more than you and maybe more than me.
Honestly, do you oppose all intentional abortion? It seems you may have another, hidden, agenda.
The pro-life movement, among other things, has provided free medical care, housing, child clothing and nutrition and more, to tens of thousands (at least) of women and girls and their babies in crisis pregnancies. I volunteered for Birthright for a number of years. In San Jose alone, there are numerous other life affirming services including the Guadalupe Hope Society, Birth & Beyond Women’s Care/Juan Diego Center and Real Options. Maybe you would like to volunteer for such a service. Your ridiculous assertion that the pro-life movement has “never done anything concrete to help people” is not true simply because you assert it (a falsehood).
I only know one person who went to Birthright. She was having a crisis pregnancy and wanted support. She was not interested in abortion. They would not help her.
Help her with what? if you are talking about contraception pills, Birthright does not give out those of they know how damaging they are to the woman’s body, read the labels. They also abort in certain circumstances.
Counseling. They were not able to help a young mother who was in a unexpected pregnancy with medical complications. All they did was tell her not to abort. She was never intending to.
Usually, they have a prollfe doctor on staff (volunteering) who can recommend certain places she can get help. Now that physicians do not have to take the Hippocratic Oath there are fewer prolife doctors. If a doctor is accepting of abortion or profiting by it, he/she does not want to bother with the hard cases, so fewer physicians are available to give good advice and help, and the patient must be willing to cooperate. I was not a counselor, but helped in other capacities – clothing coordinator, drove patients to doctors.
This was 30+ years ago in a rural area. It had to close because they could not find enough volunteers.
So, you know one person and that somehow qualifies you to say none have been helped? Talk to the many who have been helped. Birthright is looking for volunteers. If you volunteer, you’ll witness help and be a helper. And, you’ll fulfill our Lord’s command to us in Matthew 25.
Did I say that?
I was a Birthright volunteer too, many years ago, when much younger. It was a challenge, sometimes, to do pregnancy tests, and announce a positive pregnancy test, to a young woman, and try to help her choose life for her baby, and help support her with resources. We prayed a lot. This was before ultrasounds and drugstore home pregnancy test kits. I will never forget, one time, a highly successful, well-to-do young unmarried woman received a positive test result, that I did for her. She then tried to argue with me, that her baby might have this or that inherited issue, from her family history– so she really ought to take no chances, and get an abortion. She was really hyper-sensitive about a “perfect” child, with not one little common, ordinary, easily handled medical issue, from her family history. I told her that I, myself, had the main issue that concerned her, from my own family history, when born — and it was very minor, and easily dealt with. No big deal. My father looked at his new baby– me– and declared, to my mother, that he was so thrilled over me– and relieved that I didn’t have “his nose.” That was his big concern. Everybody laughed. Most people have one thing or another, in their family medical history, but that is no cause for concern. The young woman was very surprised, and calmed down. That case was memorable, for me.
I have always thought that it was a big mistake, for the Catholic Church to let go of teaching the Catechism and daily preach and teach our Catholic Faith and Morals, after Vatican II– and firmly expect all in the Church, clergy and laity, to uphold it, and stand by it. And be good, practicing Catholics– regardless of Vatican II. All Catholic churches, schools, colleges and universities, seminaries, missions, charities, hospitals, etc. — all Catholic institutions should have been required to uphold our Catholic Catechism– our Faith and Morals. No excuses. No “liberal clerics,” no “baloney.” Teaching and guidance on the Catholic Sacrament of Holy Matrimony, and sexual morality, and the sanctity of life from conception to natural death, should have been clearly taught, worldwide. Catholic Marriage and Family life should have received tremendous support and guidance. The vocation to Marriage and Motherhood/Fatherhood, in Christ, is very serious. We needed strong programs to rescue many young people from a terrible life of sin, in the Death Culture– and help them to renounce it, and give their lives to Christ, and become good, practicing adult Catholics. Our Church needs a tremendous dedication to just one thing: Jesus Christ— and no secularism, worldliness, or “baloney.” Without that single-minded dedication to Christ— millions of souls are lost to sin, and innocent, unborn children are heartlessly murdered.
What if this was the Roman Empire, which outlawed Christianity for the first several hundred years of its existence— and ordered the Death Penalty to all Christians caught evangelizing and practicing their Faith? Would you highly applaud conformance to this unjust law– and the Death Penalty for Christians?? Whose laws do you agree with, and follow– good human laws that obey God’s Laws– or ignorant, sinful human laws, made by sinful men? An abortion clinic is a Murder Clinic, and the doctors, nurses and employees are all Murderers, that are truly violent– and they are the ones who really belong in jail, because they are—- Violent Murderers!! I think many of you are also not mature enough to appreciate, support and praise the gifted, valiant young Pro Life leader, Lila Rose. God sends a few gifted souls to earth, in each generation that is born, to help mankind– as mankind is so lost, ignorant, filthy, and sinful. God sends a few gifted, holy saints, too, in each generation that is born– like the very young, Blessed Carlo Acutis, St. Gianna Beretta Molla, and others. We all must highly respect, with deep gratitude, the precious few gifted Catholic lay and clerical leaders, and beautiful saints, sent to earth, by God.
I understand that they are looking at it like right and wrong, evil and good.
Abortion is wrong. It is evil.
Blocking a door really is not that bad.
The difference is: the court does not deal with what is right and wrong, good or evil.
It is about what is legal and illegal.
I pray that these people receive mercy. I thought of them when, reading from CCC520-521.