Kurt Jensen

The latest federal lawsuit against a pro-life activist involves a former Franciscan friar who barricaded himself in a restroom at a Philadelphia abortion clinic, forcing an intervention by a police SWAT team.

The third major trial in the past two years of pro-life activists accused of blockading abortion clinics ended Aug. 20 with the convictions of all seven defendants for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or FACE Act.

When a routine training class on July 10 for soldiers who guard the base entrance gates, identified, in a PowerPoint presentation, both Operation Rescue and National Right to Life as terrorist groups, as well as showing a “Choose Life” license plate, there was initial confusion followed by immediate outrage as an image of that slide leaked onto social media.

Most of the pro-life activists sentenced to federal prison terms in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia May 14 and 15 along with Lauren Handy are Catholics with years in the “rescue movement” and other arrests.

On May 14, Lauren Handy, a resident of Alexandria, Va., who has had short jail terms in the past for disrupting operations at abortion clinics in Michigan and Virginia, is expected to face her stiffest sentence yet.