Police found five fetuses on March 30 at the home of anti-abortion activist and self-proclaimed “Catholic anarchist” Lauren Handy in Washington DC. But earlier this week, she said she had treated another 110.
At a press conference on Tuesday, the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PUUA) said Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac, the founder and director of PUUA, took 115 fetuses after an occupation of the Washington Surgi-Clinic on March 25, the Washingtonian reported. †
They claimed that when they left the clinic — where Bukovinac said they were “engaged in anti-abortion advocacy” — they saw a biohazardous waste truck from Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services, several reports said.
Bukovinac says they approached the truck driver, told him there were “dead babies” in his boxes and asked if they could take them “to give them a proper burial”. He would have agreed, according to the Washingtonian.
Bukovinac said they analyzed the contents of the box in Handy’s apartment. She says they found the remains of 110 first-term fetuses, all of which were given a “Catholic burial” in an undisclosed location, after a priest claimed to bless the remains, the Washingtonian reported.
They then explained that there were still five fetal remains, the five later-born fetuses found days later by Washington DC police in Handy’s apartment. Local news channel WUSA9 broke the story first.
Curtis Bay Medical Waste Services told local news channel WUSA9 that they do not manage fetal remains and denied that any of their drivers had given any such content to Bukovinac or Handy.
Police rejected Handy and Bukovinac’s claims that the five fetuses were aborted outside of Washington DC abortion restrictions, but they are investigating how the fetuses ended up in Handy’s home.
In Washington, abortions are legal until the pregnancy is viable, about 23 weeks into a pregnancy. However, late abortions (after 23 weeks) are also allowed for medical reasons.
Handy and nine others have been charged separately with the 2020 Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion clinic occupation, according to the BBC. They were charged with two federal civil felonies, conspiracy against rights and obstruction of access to the clinic after raiding the Washington Surgi-Clinic.
At Tuesday’s PUUA press conference, activists also claimed Baltimore’s electricity supply was powered in part by burning fetal remains, the Washingtonian reported.
This post Washington DC anti-abortion activists say they blessed and buried 110 fetuses was original published at “https://www.insider.com/washington-dc-anti-abortion-activists-say-took-buried-115-fetuses-2022-4”