FIRST ON THE DAILY SIGNAL: The Department of Justice reportedly advised the Washington, D.C. Medical Examiner to discard the remains of aborted preemie-sized babies, according to an attorney with the Thomas More Society.<\/p>\n

Those baby remains are from an abortion clinic<\/a> in Foggy Bottom, a neighborhood of D.C. Pro-life activists believe the baby bodies are evidence that a D.C. abortionist was performing illegal abortions, but for two years now, D.C. authorities have stonewalled any questions about the babies\u2019 deaths. <\/p>\n

\u201cJust today, I got a call from the medical examiner\u2019s office indicating that the DOJ has advised them that there is no reason to keep those babies anymore,\u201d attorney Martin Cannon, who is representing pro-life activists charged by the DOJ, told The Daily Signal on a phone call late Monday evening. \u201cAnd the medical examiner\u2019s office accordingly tells me that if we don\u2019t have an order to the contrary, by the end of this week, a court order, they will dispose of the babies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The DOJ and the D.C. Medical Examiner did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this story.<\/p>\n

Cannon said that he received a call from the D.C. Medical Examiner\u2019s office on Monday related to the case of Lauren Handy, one of the pro-life activists he is representing. Handy is a pro-life activist charged by the DOJ with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act when she sought to prevent the abortions of unborn babies by blocking women from accessing a D.C. abortion clinic in 2020.<\/p>\n

A federal jury found Handy and four other pro-life activists guilty in August<\/a>, and Handy is currently awaiting sentencing in an Alexandria, Virginia jail. <\/p>\n

Cannon, who was in D.C. on Monday visiting Handy and her fellow pro-life activists, had been in communication with a forensic pathologist who was considering examining the babies ahead of the activists\u2019 trial. <\/p>\n

\u201cI had the agreement of the medical examiner to accommodate that,\u201d Cannon said of the forensic pathologist\u2019s examination. But shortly before Handy\u2019s trial, he said, the pathologist became unable to do the examination. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe condition of those babies and the circumstances under which they died is still relevant to the case,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cIt\u2019s pertinent to sentencing. And I\u2019ve been making some efforts lately to find another pathologist and see what we can do. And, of course, I have advised the medical examiner\u2019s office of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

In light of the medical examiner\u2019s call, he questioned why the medical examiner\u2019s office would take \u201csuch stark marching orders from the DOJ.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I understand the structure of things correctly, there\u2019s no real reason the DOJ should have such sway over the examiner\u2019s office,\u201d he said. \u201cBeyond Lauren\u2019s case, there is a general need to have these babies examined. There is literally exactly a 50% chance that two of these babies \u2026 there\u2019s a 50% chance that each of them was born alive and left to die\u2026 There\u2019s some chance that the others were subject to illegal partial birth abortions.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe DOJ knows this,\u201d Cannon said. \u201cThose are federal crimes.\u201d <\/p>\n

The attorney warned that in order for the baby bodies to be preserved, lawmakers on Capitol Hill that have the authority to investigate the matter \u201cought to do it immediately\u201d and issue a letter to the medical examiner\u2019s office stating that there is going to be an investigation and ordering the medical examiner not to dispose of the babies. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think that would solve the problem,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then, of course, we get an investigation.\u201d <\/p>\n

In March 2022, the\u00a0 DOJ charged<\/a>\u00a0Handy and eight others with \u201cconspiracy against rights and a [Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances] Act offense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Handy has said that she was\u00a0 motivated to stop abortions<\/a>\u00a0from occurring inside Washington Surgi-Clinic after she viewed an undercover video published by the pro-life group Live Action that allegedly showed abortionist Cesare Santangelo\u00a0 discussing<\/a>\u00a0how he would allow babies to die if they were accidentally delivered during abortions.<\/p>\n

In March 2022, Handy and her colleague Terrisa Bukovinac\u00a0 discovered the bodies of five preemie-sized aborted babies\u2019 bodies<\/a>\u00a0in a box of fetal remains outside the Foggy Bottom-based abortion facility. That box also contained over a hundred pulverized remains of first-trimester babies, they said.<\/p>\n

The District does not have any laws that regulate how late during pregnancy a baby can be aborted. So when the babies\u2019 bodies were originally brought to light, D.C. police shrugged off the matter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Ashan Benedict, the Metropolitan Police Department\u2019s executive assistant chief of police, went so far as to tell\u00a0 reporters in April 2022<\/a>\u00a0that the babies appeared to have been aborted \u201cin accordance with D.C. law.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Police have repeatedly told The Daily Signal since then that the case is still \u201cunder investigation.\u201d Authorities will not share whether autopsies have been performed on the babies\u2019 remains. The MPD confirmed in early August that the investigation is still open.<\/p>\n

The mayor\u2019s office has completely stonewalled questions about the babies. Even the office of the chief medical examiner for the District of Columbia directs queries to the mayor\u2019s office\u2014specifically, to Dora Taylor-Lowe, who refuses to answer The Daily Signal\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It remains unclear whether autopsies have been performed on the bodies of the five babies, whose bodies were photographed by Bukovinac. (Warning:\u00a0 These images are graphic and disturbing<\/a>.) <\/p>\n

And though D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser refused to address the possibility that Santangelo was criminally aborting late-term babies in the nation\u2019s capital, she did accuse Handy of \u201ctampering with fetal remains\u201d in an April 2022 letter to Republican lawmakers highlighting that Handy herself faced FACE Act charges for blocking the entrance to a D.C. abortion clinic in October 2020.<\/p>\n

Handy\u2019s involvement in the discovery of the babies, as well as her participation in the October 2020 \u201cblockade,\u201d according to Bowser, are potentially \u201cserious violations of federal law.\u201d<\/p>\n

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