[Federalist] D.C. police confirmed an abortionist who appears to have illegally performed partial-birth abortions will be allowed to continue with no criminal investigation, the same week peaceful pro-lifers who staged a protest at his abortion facility were found guilty in federal court and face imprisonment.According to the Daily Signal, the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department stated Thursday they are not actively investigating abortionist Cesare Santangelo, whom pro-life activists have accused of performing gruesome abortions of viable babies. The Federalist also asked the Federal Bureau of Investigation if it was investigating Santangelo, but the agency refused to answer the question.
The accusations stem from pro-life activists Lauren Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac, who obtained a box of five preemie-sized babies outside Santangelo’s practice, the Washington Surgi-Clinic, in March 2022. The babies became known to pro-lifers as "The Five."
Meanwhile, on Tuesday, a Washington D.C. federal court found five pro-life activists, including Handy, guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act for their participation in an October 2020 rescue and protest at the Washington Surgi-Clinic. The pro-lifers face up to 11 years in federal prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000.
According to lawyers from the Thomas More Society representing Handy and the other activists, the October 2020 protest was peaceful: "Some simply kneeled and prayed at Santangelo’s facility, some passed out pro-life literature and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together inside the facility."
On Tuesday, the Metropolitan Police Department led the Daily Signal’s Mary Margaret Olohan to believe it was investigating Santangelo and his clinic in relation to the discovery of the aborted babies and the allegations that illegal partial-birth abortion techniques were used in their deaths. On Thursday evening, however, the department changed its tune.