As PAAU wrote in a press release, the fetuses' 'gestational ages as well as their apparent sustained injuries potentially show violations of the Partial Birth Abortion Act as well as the Born Alive Infants Protection Act which are federal crimes.' Even by her own account, Handy at one point said she was inspired to 'liberate the bodies of aborted babies from med waste companies and give them a proper burial.' In Handy's case, anti-abortion activists are alleging that the fetal remains found in her house are part of a 'direct action' effort against apparent human rights abuses. Want a daily wrap-up of all the news and commentary Salon has to offer? Subscribe to our morning newsletter, Crash Course.īut 'for all the anti-abortion movement tries to sell its commitment to the well-being of women,' as The Intelligencer's Sarah Jones wrote last year, 'its beliefs, when reduced to their most basic elements, are undeniably misogynistic.'

In 2010, for instance, former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin told a group of anti-abortion activists that they stood for an 'emerging, conservative, feminist identity.' And during the 2016 presidential election, as Jezebel's Kyle Cheung noted, candidate Carly Fiorina repeatedly sold herself as being a feminist in her sensationalized crusade against Planned Parenthood. While this bizarre spin on anti-abortion organizing might appear to be somewhat novel, anti-abortion activists have long tried to dress their cause in the verbiage and discourse of feminism, co-opting the notion of 'women's liberation' to fit their political agenda. RELATED: The next phase of anti-abortion cruelty: Jail for ending your own pregnancy

And yet, on seemingly religious grounds, these groups adamantly oppose the practice of abortion, a practice that has been shown to reduce poverty, reduce crime, and improve the socioeconomic status of women. Interestingly, these groups appear to use the language of the left, employing a variety of progressive buzzwords – like 'non-carceral', 'industrial complex', and 'collective liberation' – not typically used in anti-abortion rhetoric. As reporting reveals, Handy's affiliations - although ostensibly left-wing - appear to be in associated with more traditional right-wing anti-abortion organizations.Ī self-described 'leftist,' Handy served as Director of Activism at the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), a group of self-professed 'grassroots activists dismantling the abortion industrial complex & standing in solidarity with the unborn victims killed by abortion violence.' Handy also apparently founded Mercy Missions, an anti-abortion group that uses 'non-carceral solutions in the struggle towards our collective liberation which is the freedom to thrive in safe & sustainable communities from conception to natural death.' police. The grisly development, which comes amid a national Republican-led assault on abortion access, provides a startling glimpse into the depths of anti-abortion extremism.

On Thursday, Lauren Handy, a 28-year old anti-abortion activist currently under a federal indictment for blockading an abortion clinic two years ago, was found to be in possession of five fetuses in her Washington home after her residence was raided by the D.C.

Handy wing pro