Lauren Handy’s life changed forever when she saw a video of the notorious Washington, D.C. late-term abortionist, Cesare Santangelo, admitting that he would leave born-alive babies to die after failed abortions.

From that moment, the young Lauren dedicated herself to being a voice for the unborn and to exposing the horrors that take place behind the closed doors of abortion clinics such as Santangelo’s Washington-Surgi facility. She would later discover the remains of several late-term aborted babies—known as the “D.C. Five”—which only fueled her desire to bring concerns about Santangelo’s apparent infanticide to light.

In October 2020, Lauren organized a pro-life protest at Santangelo’s facility, where she believed that gruesome and illegal live-birth abortions were taking place that very day. More than a year and a half later, the peaceful protest grabbed the attention of the Biden-Harris Department of Justice.

Instead of investigating the alleged horrors taking place within Santangelo’s abortion business, the Biden-Haris DOJ slapped Lauren and her fellow peaceful pro-life activists with FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrance) Act and ‘Conspiracy Against Rights’ charges.

10+ years in federal prison for peaceful protest?

The FACE Act is a federal law passed under President Bill Clinton in 1994 to shut down pro-life protest and creates misdemeanor and felony penalties for those who obstruct or interfere with access to so-called “reproductive health services.” While supposedly also protecting pro-life pregnancy centers and churches, the FACE Act has been used almost exclusively as a cudgel to silence pro-life speech and protest.

About 97% of FACE Act prosecutions brought by the DOJ in the law’s 30-year history have targeted pro-lifers. Over a quarter of all those cases have been brought by the Biden-Harris DOJ in less than four years.

This is all while there have been at least 90 attacks on pro-life organizations and pregnancy centers, between May 2022 to March 2024. Moreover, there has been an 800% increase in attacks on churches since 2018, according to Family Research Council.

But there’s more to the story. The Biden-Harris DOJ, using a never-before-seen interpretation of the law, is weaponizing the FACE Act well beyond how it was originally intended, and combining it with another federal law to maximize potential prison sentence to over a decade a federal prison.

The ‘Conspiracy Against Rights’ law—also known as the ‘KKK Act’—is a Civil War-era law originally intended to protect the voting rights of African Americans in the early days of Reconstruction from violent reprisals by the Klu Klux Klan. Today, it’s being coupled with the FACE Act and used to prosecute peaceful pro-life activists—threatening them with prison sentences exceeding 10 years.

Lauren is now unjustly jailed and serving 57-month sentence in federal prison for her “crime” of peacefully protesting abortion. For perspective, a Hawaii man was sentenced to 57 months in prison the same month as Lauren was, for the crime of defrauding investors of $1.2 million. Even hardened drug traffickers receive lighter sentences than Lauren.

Thomas More Society attorneys are fighting in federal court against the Biden-Harris DOJ to secure her freedom and to stop this weaponization of the FACE Act. Tragically, Lauren is just one of the many pro-life advocates being unjustly persecuted under the Biden-Harris DOJ.

FBI raid for singing hymns, praying, and speaking with police

Paul Vaughn, another pro-life advocate, is a Christian father of 11. Like Lauren, he strongly opposes abortion and the predatory abortion industry, frequently praying outside of local abortion facilities to witness to the sanctity of life and to provide hope to abortion-minded mothers and fathers. One day in March 2021, Paul and other pro-lifers gathered for a peaceful demonstration outside of a Tennessee abortion facility to pray, sing hymns, and counsel women. Paul made sure to comply with law enforcement and avoid trespassing or blocking entrances to the facility—with a family to care for and a newborn on the way, he didn’t even want to risk arrest by engaging in any illegal acts, including violating the FACE Act.

That day, Paul was not even arrested for trespass. Yet, over a year later, the FBI came pounding on the Vaughn family door, arresting Paul at gunpoint in front of his wife and children. The agents hauled Paul away, without explanation, leaving his wife Bethany, and their children terrified and confused.

As with Lauren, the Biden-Harris DOJ claimed that Paul had participated in a “conspiracy against rights” and violated of the FACE Act.

Thomas More Society attorneys defended Paul through a long and arduous legal persecution, but Paul was found guilty of the DOJ’s trumped up charged. He has now been formally sentenced to three years of supervised release—thankfully avoiding the nearly 11 years of prison time that he potentially faced. However, in the eyes of the Biden-Harris DOJ, this peace-loving Christian father is still a convicted felon.

Thomas More Society is currently appealing the convictions of both Lauren and Paul and defending many more peaceful pro-lifers targeted by the Biden-Harris DOJ. Through these appeals, Thomas More Society attorneys are pressing forward a challenge to the constitutionality of FACE Act and its weaponization by the Biden-Harris DOJ prosecutors.

A justice system is gravely flawed when peaceful pro-life advocates protesting the murder of innocent unborn children receive greater prison sentences than convicted drug dealers and fraudsters—all while abortionists like Cesare Santangelo get off scot-free. Thomas More Society continues to seek justice for pro-life advocates like Lauren and Paul who courageously defend the vulnerable when nobody else will.