A prominent anti-abortion group is demanding Washington, D.C., police investigate the five fetuses found in a Capitol Hill apartment last week, arguing the remains indicate foul play.
The Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising said it arranged for the Metropolitan Police Department homicide unit to collect the remains of more than 100 fetuses it received from a whistleblower inside a local abortion clinic. Now, the organization is demanding officials perform forensic examinations, claiming they were all victims of illegal late-term abortions.
“This was the most devastating and soul-crushing experience of our lives,” PAAU founder Terrisa Bukovinac said. “And it was moment that will live with us for all of time.”
Police recovered the fetuses in a Washington apartment last week shortly before arresting Lauren Handy, a member of the group who was federally indicted on separate charges of storming an abortion clinic in 2020. The group said Handy privately arranged to have the MPD collect the remains prior to her arrest, as they believe the gestational ages and injuries of the fetuses indicate violations of federal law.
The fetal remains were reportedly collected from Washington Surgi-Clinic on March 25 from Handy and Bukovinac when the two saw a driver loading a waste services truck with boxes. The pair asked the driver whether they could take one of the boxes, taking it back to Handy’s apartment to discover what was inside, they said. City officials declined to confirm whether the remains were collected from Handy’s apartment.
“Not even years of anti-abortion advocacy could have prepared us for that moment,” Bukovinac told reporters on Tuesday.
About 110 of the over 100 aborted fetuses in the box were aborted early in the gestational process, with another five that appeared to be late-term, according to Handy and Bukovinac.
The pair arranged burials for the 110 fetuses in a private cemetery, keeping the five late-term fetuses to be examined by pathologists, who determined they appeared to have been viable.
“This must end. We are demanding the D.C. police conduct a full investigation into the deaths of these babies, including through autopsies,” Bukovinac said. “We demand a proper burial for the final five children post-autopsy.”
Although Washington does not ban late-term abortions, federal law restricts the methods that can be used and requires medical professionals to attempt lifesaving care for infants born after failed procedures.
The fetuses appeared to be about 28-32 gestational weeks, with some of the bodies remaining intact, according to photos that circulated on social media and were shared at Tuesday’s press conference purportedly showing images of the aborted fetuses. At least one of the fetuses may have experienced a partial-birth abortion, meaning the fetus is partially delivered before being aborted, in violation of federal law, the group claimed. Another fetus was apparently born alive before the abortion procedure, which would also be a violation of federal law, the activists argued.
After independently examining the fetuses, the anti-abortion group notified law enforcement of the remains to perform autopsies and determine whether they were illegally aborted. However, city officials do not plan to investigate at this time.
The fetuses “were aborted in accordance with D.C. law, so we are not investigating this incident along those lines,” said Ashan Benedict, the executive assistant chief of police, at a news conference on Thursday.
But members of the PAAU are demanding city police charge the clinic for the procedures.
“We are aware that the Metropolitan Police Department has stated they do not believe a crime has been committed against these babies under D.C. law,” Bukovinac said in a statement. “However, the laws in question are federal laws enforced by the U.S. Department of Justice.”
The MPD said its investigation is “very preliminary” and that it has not yet determined whether there are grounds for a criminal case.
The Washington Examiner reached out to an MPD spokesperson for comment on the condition and origin of the fetuses, who referred the outlet to the Office of the Medical Examiner. The office said that media inquiries for the investigation were under the purview of the Mayor’s Office, which did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
