Handy was one of five anti-abortion protesters found guilty in August 2023 of violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
In 2020, she and those she protested with had entered the Washington-Surgi abortion clinic in Washington, D.C. — the same clinic from which the five aborted babies were allegedly obtained — as part of a pro-life demonstration.
Cannon said he had an agreement with the medical examiner’s office before Handy’s trial for a privately obtained forensic pathologist to examine the babies ahead of the proceedings.
“I had the agreement of the medical examiner to accommodate that,” he said. That private autopsy never occurred because the pathologist “became unable to do the examination,” the outlet reported.
“The condition of those babies and the circumstances under which they died is still relevant to the case,” Cannon said. “It’s pertinent to sentencing. And I’ve been making some efforts lately to find another pathologist and see what we can do. And, of course, I have advised the medical examiner’s office of that.”
After receiving the Monday call from the medical examiner’s office, Cannon questioned the reason for the office taking “such stark marching orders from the DOJ.”
“If I understand the structure of things correctly, there’s no real reason the DOJ should have such sway over the examiner’s office,” he said. “Beyond Lauren’s case, there is a general need to have these babies examined. There is literally exactly a 50% chance that two of these babies … there’s a 50% chance that each of them was born alive and left to die… There’s some chance that the others were subject to illegal partial-birth abortions.”
“The DOJ knows this,” he said. “Those are federal crimes.”
CNA reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia on Tuesday. The DOJ referred CNA to the D.C. medical examiner’s office for comment.
Joseph Bukuras is a journalist at the Catholic News Agency. Joe has prior experience working in state and federal government, in non-profits, and Catholic education. He has contributed to an array of publications and his reporting has been cited by leading news sources, including the New York Times and the Washington Post. He holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the Catholic University of America. He is based out of the Boston area.