WASHINGTON — Democratic Washington, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser accused a pro-life activist Friday of “tampering with fetal remains,” failing to address calls from lawmakers for authorities to conduct autopsies on the bodies of aborted babies recovered from a DC abortion clinic.
The D.C. mayor referred to Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU) member Lauren Handy, who the FBI arrested and indicted (along with eight others) last week for “obstructing patients and providers of a reproductive health services facility” in October 2020.
Bowser called this “extremist anti-abortion activity” in a letter to Republican Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford. He had led lawmakers in calling on the D.C. mayor and the Department of Justice earlier this week to perform autopsies on the bodies of five aborted babies that PAAU has said they intercepted when the clinic was attempting to send the fetal remains to Curtis Bay Medical Waste Facility.
“In response to your letter of April 5, 2022, regarding the indictment of Lauren Handy of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising for extremist anti-abortion activity in the District of Columbia in 2020, and relatedly, her claim of responsibility for tampering with fetal remains as reported last week, we refer your questions to the United States Department of Justice,” Bowser said in a Friday response to Lankford obtained by The Daily Wire.
“The Metropolitan Police Department (MPD) is in consultation with the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on both matters,” she said. “The above referenced indictment and Ms. Handy’s claim of responsibility for March 30, 2022, and MPD’s discoveries are, potentially, serious violations of federal law.”
“The investigation is ongoing,” she added.
Bowser’s office has not responded to many requests for comment from The Daily Wire.
“Mayor Bowser’s letter comes just after her endorsement from pro-abortion extremist group Emily’s List as she pursues re-election,” Handy told The Daily Wire on Saturday morning.
“The mayor and her pro-abortion collaborators view me as a problem that they can quickly sweep away just like they do to so many others in the DC community,” she added. “Despite these attacks I will continue to defend the unborn, the houseless, and all people in the margins.”
Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ) also sent a letter Friday to the Department of Justice and the FBI calling for an investigation into whether the abortions performed on the preterm babies violated the law.
“We are gravely concerned by allegations brought forward that suggest a preborn baby underwent a partial birth abortion at the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington, D.C.,” the Republicans wrote in a letter, exclusively obtained by The Daily Wire, sent Friday to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
“We demand that you conduct a comprehensive investigation on the circumstances surrounding the deaths of each preborn baby,” they added.
D.C. police have not only said that the babies were aborted legally but also indicated that the potentially criminal part of the incident is how the aborted baby bodies were obtained. The nation’s capital does not have any specific law that bans abortion at any point, effectively allowing abortions through nine months of pregnancy.
The Daily Wire went to Washington Surgi Clinic on Thursday, where clinic workers denied that Dr. Cesare Santangelo was in the building (though the waiting room was full of patients and The Daily Wire spoke with a woman undergoing an abortion) and refused to answer any questions.