Lauren Handy's attorneys have already said they want to appeal her conviction to the Supreme Court to reverse a federal law protecting clinics.in 2022—to almost five years in prison for invading a Washington, D.C., clinic in 2020, following her conviction under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in August.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sharply criticized Handy for her cruel treatment of clinic staff and patients. “Neither you nor any of the other co-conspirators showed any compassion, empathy, toward those two women needing medical care,” Kollar-Kotelly said on Tuesday. “Your views took precedence over, frankly, their human needs.”
In September, Handy’s attorneys said they wanted to appeal her conviction to the Supreme Court and try to reverse the FACE Act.
Three of Handy’s co-defendants—Joan Andrews Bell, Jean Marshall, and Paulette Harlow—are in their 70s; Bell is longtime anti-abortion activist who has been arrested hundreds of times for similar clinic invasions, and inspired some of the other co-defendants to join the clinic blockade,