Judge Dismisses Claim That Activists Who Blocked Abortion Clinic Acted In Defense Of Unborn Person

Judge Dismisses Claim That Activists Who Blocked Abortion Clinic Acted In Defense Of Unborn Person

Kate Anderson on August 8, 2023

A U.S. District Court ruled Monday that a group of activists could not claim that they had acted in defense of an unborn person by blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic in 2020.

Lauren Handy, Heather Idoni and several other defendants argued that they cut off access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic in Washington D.C. in order to prevent the murder of unborn children, according to WUSA9, a local media outlet. Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, however, agreed with the Department of Justice (DOJ) that the claims were not “legally viable” and that the court could not condone citizens donning a “vigilante’s hood,” according to the three-page ruling.

“Defense of a third person is ‘analogous to the right of self-defense,’ which ‘arises only when . . . necessity begins, and equally ends with the necessity,’” Kollar-Kotelly wrote. “In other words, where there was ‘a chance both to refuse to do the criminal act and also to avoid the threatened harm,’ such a defense must fail. Imminence is required; a defendant may not don a vigilante’s hood to insert themself into a situation of their own making and subsequently claim defense of a third person to justify their actions.”

Handy and Idoni were charged by the DOJ in March 2022 with violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances(FACE) Act, which “prohibits threats of force, obstruction and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services,” after they chained and roped off the entrance in 2020, according to the court documents. Handy gained access to the clinic by reportedly scheduling an appointment under the name “Hazel Jenkins,” according to WUSA9.

Handy and Idoni currently work for Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, a progressive pro-life organization, but were not employees of the company during the incident. Caroline Smith, executive director of PAAU, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that they were disappointed that the judge ruled against the argument of protecting an unborn person.

“We have full confidence in our team of lawyers to provide the best defense possible for Lauren and the other defendants,” Smith said. “It is disappointing that the government continues to make it clear that they see the unborn as human non-persons. History will always repeat itself, and the dehumanization of the unborn is evident within the federal government.”

Kollar-Kotelly stated that the defendants had not been able to prove their claims of “imminent risk,” or that there were no other courses of action that could have been taken to prevent the incident, according to the ruling. She further argued that, instead, Handy, Idoni and the others had acknowledged that they went to D.C. to “engage in preplanned activity.”