DC Medical Examiner halts destruction of late-term aborted babies amid pressure from lawmakers

By Samantha Kamman, Christian Post Reporter Tuesday, February 13, 2024

Demonstrators speak at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising's press conference and demonstration outside the D.C. Board of Medicine office in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2023. PAAU held a weeklong series of events to raise awareness and call for 'justice' about the five dead full-term aborted babies discovered by activists Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy last March. — Demonstrators speak at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising's press conference and demonstration outside the D.C. Board of Medicine office in Washington, D.C., on March 21, 2023. PAAU held a weeklong series of events to raise awareness and call for "justice" about the five dead full-term aborted babies discovered by activists Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy last March. | The Christian Post/ Nicole Alcindor

The D.C. Medical Examiner will not immediately destroy the bodies of five aborted babies a progressive pro-life group recovered from an abortion clinic following demands from multiple organizations and Republican lawmakers that the remains be preserved to determine the legality of their deaths.

The D.C. Medical Examiner's office has possessed the remains for two years, which the pro-life group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising claims it obtained from the Washington Surgi-Clinic alongside 110 other human remains in 2022.

PAAU believes that the facility aborted five of the babies in a manner that violated federal law. The group has repeatedly demanded an autopsy of the remains.

On Friday, PAAU Founder Terrisa Bukovinac announced on X that the D.C. Medical Examiner agreed to preserve the remains after days of "lobbying and protesting." The progressive pro-life activist disclosed that she plans to continue calling for further action.

"Lauren [H]andy and I discovered and held the #DCFive in our own hands and have seen with our own eyes who they were and the likely federal crimes committed against them," Bukovinac wrote in a separate Friday X post. "It has been a devastating experience. We will never give up our quest for #JusticeForTheFive."

Handy is PAAU's director of activism who is currently serving time in jail after a jury found her and several other pro-life activists guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The DOJ charged Handy and the other activists with violating the FACE Act after they obstructed access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic in 2020.

Emails cited by The Daily Signal between the D.C. Medical Examiner's office and the American Center for Law and Justice show the former saying last week that it would not dispose of the bodies.

While the medical examiner's office did not indicate when it may dispose of the remains, it noted that several pro-life groups and Republican politicians have requested the office hold onto them.

Earlier this month, Martin Cannon, senior counsel at Thomas More Society, told The Daily Signal that the medical examiner's office informed him that the DOJ advised them not to continue holding onto the five babies' remains.

The Department of Justice and the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.

Multiple Republican lawmakers, including Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, promised that the DOJ and the D.C. Medical Examiner's office would be called to testify if the bodies were discarded.

In a Thursday letter, the lawmaker stated that both entities would be called "as witnesses before the American public" during a hearing if the bodies of the babies were not preserved.

Cruz contends that disposing of the bodies "before justice can be achieved" would be to "deny these five innocent victims justice and assume the cause and nature of these children's deaths without conducting any investigation, without performing any autopsies, and without even affording these children a proper, respectful burial."

Last week, the ACLJ joined PAAU, Live Action and various pro-life groups in sending a letter to Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. The letter called on congressional leaders to demand the preservation of the five babies until an autopsy can be performed.

"Additionally, we urge Members of Congress to offer their voice to speak out about the five innocent unborn children whose lives were brutally taken just three miles from the House chamber," the document stated. "The D.C. Five deserve justice and the Department of Justice must cease covering up potential evidence of infanticide and partial-birth abortion in our nation's capital."

The ACLJ also requested last week that the D.C. Medical Examiner provide Rev. Patrick and Katie Mahoney with the bodies of the babies. CP received a copy of the letter last week, in which the ACLJ asked that the Mahoneys receive next of kin rights under D.C. Code § 3-413. The couples wanted the right to determine what to do with the babies' remains and make a decision regarding their funeral arrangements.

"Our hearts break as we consider this unspeakable betrayal of human rights and justice through late-term abortion violence against these five innocent children," Mahoney said in a statement provided to CP. "Our hope would first be these children are not destroyed, but remain as evidence in a potential federal crime of infanticide through partial-birth abortion."

"However, if the Washington, DC Medical Examiner decides to discard these innocent children, we would ask under DC code and law that they would be given to us so we could ensure they receive a proper and dignified burial," the minister continued. "It is critical we honor their lives and embrace the simple truth that all human life has value, purpose, and meaning."

Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman