FILE - Anti-abortion activists Lauren Handy, front, with Terrisa Bukovinac, from left, Jonathan Darnell, and Randall Terry, speak during a news conference in Washington, April 5, 2022. An anti-abortion activist has been sentenced to nearly five years in prison for leading others on an invasion and blockade of a reproductive health clinic in the nation’s capital. Lauren Handy declined to address the court before U.S.
Handy declined to address the court before U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced her to four years and nine months in prison. A jury convicted Handy of two charges: conspiracy against rights and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, more commonly known as the FACE Act.
Handy’s nine co-defendants were Jonathan Darnel, of Virginia; Jay Smith, John Hinshaw and William Goodman, all of New York; Joan Bell, of New Jersey; Paulette Harlow and Jean Marshall, both of Massachusetts; Heather Idoni, of Michigan; and Herb Geraghty, of Pennsylvania. Handy used a false name to book a fake appointment at the clinic of the morning of the invasion. When a clinic employee unlocked a door to admit patients, the defendants pushed and shoved their way in while Darnel livestreamed the blockade.