Blocking Abortion Clinic Leads To Sentence For Alexandria Woman, Others

ALEXANDRIA, VA — An Alexandria woman was one of three defendants sentenced Tuesday due to blocking a clinic providing abortion services in Washington, DC.

A judge in D.C. federal court sentenced Lauren Handy, 30, of Alexandria, to 57 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Handy is director of activism at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.

Other sentences include John Hinshaw, 69, of Levittown, New York, receiving 21 months in prison and three years of supervised release. William Goodman, 54, of Bronx, New York, was sentenced to 27 months in prison and three years of supervised release. Jay Smith, 34, of Freeport, New York, pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 10 months in prison and three years of supervised release in March. Four other defendants were scheduled for sentencing Wednesday along with two more in the coming weeks.

"These defendants conspired to use force to prevent fellow citizens from exercising rights protected by law," said U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves in a statement. "People cannot resort to using force and intimidation to prevent others from engaging in lawful activity simply because they disagree with the law."

Handy and others were previously convicted of felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act violation in relation to blocked access at a reproductive health clinic that provides abortions in DC on Oct. 22, 2020.

According to prosecutors, the defendants created a blockade at a reproductive health clinic to prevent patients from receiving services. Court documents indicated Handy, Hinshaw, Goodman and other defendants forcefully entered the clinic and blocked two doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes. Handy led the blockade, which was livestreamed on Facebook.

The defendants' actions violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act "by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services," a news release from DC federal prosecutors said.

Handy and the organization also spoke out in 2022 after finding medical waste services taking what allegedly contained fetuses at DC's Washington Surgi Center. After burying many of the remains, the activists got DC police to pick up five fetuses the group claimed were nearly full-term fetuses.

Handy was also one of the defendants who received jail time for trespassing at an Alexandria women's health clinic. In the November 2021 at the Alexandria Women’s Center, activists had been handing out materials against abortion and pink roses, according to the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising.

Handy has been held at the Alexandria Detention Center awaiting sentencing and has documented her experience through the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising blog.