Anti-abortion activist Lauren Handy was convicted of illegally blocking a reproductive health clinic in Washington, DC after she kept five foetuses in her home. Handy and five other defendants were accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE Act) — which prohibits intimidation or obstruction of someone seeking reproductive health services — when they blocked access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic in October 2020 using chains and ropes, according to a Justice Department release. A US District Court jury in DC found Handy and four co-defendants —John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, Herb Geraghty — guilty on all counts. Each defendant was convicted of a felony conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offence, the release stated, specifying that each face up to a maximum of 11 years in prison and a fine of up to $350,000. The Washington Post noted that a second group of defendants involved in the same blockade have a trial that is set to begin next week. The Justice Department wrote that Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, Goodman, and Geraghty engaged in the conspiracy when they came from all over the country to Washington, DC “to meet with Handy and participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook.” Prosecutors said that Handy called the clinic while under the guise of a prospective patient to book an appointment to figure out when the clinic performed abortions — in order to plan when she and others could arrive to stop patients from getting inside. The Justice Department wrote that Handy, Hinshaw, Idoni, and Goodman “forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes.” That’s when they began livestreaming their blockade. In terms of violating the FACE Act, the Justice Department wrote that the defendants used “physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere” with the clinic’s employees as well as a patient who was seeking reproductive health services. “They planned their crime carefully, to take over that clinic, block access to reproductive services and interfere with others’ rights,” Assistant US Attorney John Crabb said last week. “The idea of deliberately breaking the law, to them, was sexy.” The group responsible for the blockade were reportedly members of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU); Handy is the director of activism. The group’s website says its mission is to “achieve socio-political justice for the preborn by mobilizing anti-abortion activists for direct action and opposing elective abortion through a progressive lens.” PAAU wrote on X in the wake of the verdict: “This is a gross miscarriage of justice, and while this is painful for all of those who understand that the unborn have a right to be Rescued, this is not the end!” The group added, “Rescue CANNOT and will not be stopped. This case was an effort by the US government to isolate and intimidate Rescuers and anti abortion people into believing they will face significant jail time for living in alignment with their pro-life values.” The case was brought against Handy and the other defendants in February 2022; one month later, police found five fetuses in a house in Southeast Washington where she was staying. Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson said at the time that officers were investigating a tip regarding “potential bio-hazard material” at a property in Capitol Hill, adding later that they located “five fetuses inside a residence at the location.” Shortly after that news broke, PAAU held a press conference announcing that Handy had 115 more foetuses that she helped baptise and bury in a private cemetery. Handy said at the press conference, “During the five days they were under my stewardship, the 115 victims of abortion violence were given funeral mass for unbaptised children and 110… were given a proper burial in a private cemetery.” Read More Everything we know about Lauren Handy, anti-abortion activist who says she ‘blessed and buried’ 110 foetuses Anti-abortion activists, including one who kept fetuses, convicted of illegally blocking DC clinic Abortion rights protests planned across Poland after death of pregnant woman

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Colorado far-right Representative Lauren Boebert has been caught on video sprinting to a vote that she later claimed to have missed on purpose. She argued at the time that she missed the Thursday House vote on the raising of the debt ceiling as a “no-show protest”. But footage shared on Sunday by Morgan Rimmer of CNN shows Ms Boebert running up the stairs of the Capitol on the night of the vote. As she runs up the steps in the footage, Ms Rimmer tells Ms Boebert, “they just closed it”. “They closed it?” Ms Boebert asks before continuing up the steps. She seemingly missed the vote and then tried to claim that the mishap was intentional. “Deals cut in the dark are why we’re headed to 36 trillion in debt, and I refuse to be a part of it,” Ms Boebert said. Ms Rimmer tweeted: “Here is a clip from that night outside the Capitol, showing Rep. Boebert running up the stairs as though she was trying to make the vote, and me telling her that it had closed already.” Ms Rimmer tweeted the footage in response to the video shared by Ms Boebert on the platform. “Call it a protest — there’s absolutely no way to ever justify adding another $4-6 trillion in debt. This is more DC self-created garbage that I will always fight against,” Ms Boebert tweeted. According to Ms Rimmer, Ms Boebert entered a statement into the congressional record following the closing of the vote that she was “unavoidably detained” at the time and that she “would have voted no”. President Joe Biden signed the debt ceiling legislation on Saturday following its passing in both chambers of Congress to avoid a default on the US’s sovereign debt which is likely to have prompted a global economic crisis. On Friday night, Mr Biden addressed the nation from the Oval Office, telling Americans not to abandon the idea of bipartisanship. He said the aim of the debt deal was to “keeping the full, faith, and credit of the United States” and putting in place “a budget that continues to grow our economy and reflects our values as a nation”. “Passing this budget agreement was critical. The stakes could not have been higher,” he added. “Our economy would have been thrown in recession. Retirement accounts for millions of Americans would have been decimated, eight million Americans would have lost their jobs,” Mr Biden said. “Default would have destroyed our nation’s credit rating, which would have made everything from mortgages to car loans to funding for the government much more expensive and it would have taken years to climb out of that hole — and America standing as the most trusted, reliable financial partner in the world would have been shattered.” “No one got everything they wanted but the American people got what they needed. We averted an economic crisis and an economic collapse,” he added. “We’re cutting spending and bringing deficits down. And, we protected important priorities from Social Security to Medicare to Medicaid to veterans to our transformational investments in infrastructure and clean energy.” The bill passed the Senate by a margin of 63-36 and the House by 314-117. Read More Lauren Boebert confirms former WWE star is not her father after two DNA tests Lauren Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal she furiously campaigned against Lauren Boebert claims she missed vote on debt ceiling deal because it was a ‘c**p sandwich’ Lauren Boebert confirms former WWE star is not her father Boebert claims she didn’t vote on debt ceiling deal because it was a ‘c**p sandwich’ Boebert didn’t turn up to vote on debt ceiling deal she furiously campaigned against

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