Pastor Wants Custody of Five Full-Term Aborted Babies so Abortionist is Held Accountable

Life News ^ | Valentine's Day 2024 | Steven Ertelt

[Morgana]

A Christian pastor wants custody of the five full-term aborted babies who were killed in potentially illegal late-term abortions in Washington D.C. so the abortionist who killed them can be held accountable.

As LifeNews reported on Friday, in an 11th-hour victory, leading pro-life attorneys have stopped Washington D.C. from destroying the bodies of five full-term aborted babies who were killed in potentially illegal abortions.

Two years ago, pro-life advocates made a horrific discovery when they opened boxes of medical waste from a late-term abortion facility in Washington, D.C.

Inside were the bodies of 115 aborted babies, including five who appeared to be nearly full term and possibly victims of illegal partial-birth abortions or infanticide.

However, D.C. officials seemingly have done nothing to investigate the horrific discovery despite repeated calls from U.S. Congressional leaders and pro-life advocates. Undercover investigations exposing other unethical and potentially illegal activity by abortionist Cesare Santangelo and his Washington Surgi-Clinic appear to have gone ignored as well.

Now the lack of justice for these five babies potentially killed in illegal abortions is getting worse. The Biden administration is ordering destruction of the babies’ bodies — which could permanently destroy the criminal evidence.

But fortunately pro-life attorneys with the American Center for Law and Justice were able to block their destruction.

“The ACLJ was preparing to file an emergency writ of mandamus on behalf of our client to force D.C. officials to follow the law and allow for the proper burial of these babies,” ACLJ Associate Counsel Nathan Moelker told LifeNews. “We contacted D.C. one final time in an attempt to resolve this issue and delay action on the disposition of the remains of these babies before we filed our lawsuit. We have just received assurances that the D.C. government is standing down from today’s cremation.”

“What this means is that we were successful in preventing the Biden DOJ and D.C. from destroying the evidence of potential crimes and from simultaneously blocking the honoring of these young lives with a proper burial. The D.C. government also indicated to us that they will respond to Congress’ demands. We continue to hope that D.C. will in fact conduct a formal investigation into these babies’ deaths,” Moelker added.

The ACLJ is also fighting for pro-life Presbyterian minister, Patrick Mahoney, and his wife, Katie Mahoney, that they be given the legal rights as “next of kin” for the five babies. They wish to make sure the babies can get a proper autopsy so the abortionist can be prosecuted if laws were broken and so the babies can receive a proper funeral.

“As no next of kin has come forward to claim these babies, despite the publicity surrounding their deaths, our clients, Rev. and Mrs. Mahoney, under the D.C. Code, should be given ‘the right to control the disposition of the remains of a deceased person, the location and conditions of internment, and arrangements for funeral goods and services’ as volunteers per D.C. Code § 3-413(a)(5),” the ACLJ letter to the medical examiner’s office said.

The chairmen of two House of Representatives subcommittees are calling on D.C. authorities to preserve the remains of “The Five” aborted babies’ bodies.

“Our subcommittees are conducting oversight of the District of Columbia’s and the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) enforcement of federal law,” Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government Chairman Chip Roy and Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Chairman Andy Biggs say in the letter, addressed to D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and the Metropolitan Police Department’s chief, Pamela Smith. Roy, a Republican, represents Texas. Biggs, also a Republican, represents Arizona.

“On February 5, 2024, The Daily Signal reported that DOJ had advised the Washington, D.C., Medical Examiner to dispose of the remains of five preborn children whose bodies were allegedly recovered from the Washington Surgi-Clinic,” the lawmakers write in the letter, a copy of which was first obtained by The Daily Signal. “We strongly urge you to reconsider this decision and request that you preserve this evidence.”

Previously the Washington DC Medical Examiner had informed attorneys with the Thomas More Society that the US Department of Justice has ordered the destruction of the remains of the babies. Images of the brutalized remains of these children have been circulated across the globe and appear to be evidence of federal crimes including violations of the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act and the Born Alive Infant Protection Act.

Caroline Taylor Smith, Executive Director of PAAU, the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, says this day has long been feared and she told LifeNews that destruction of their bodies could forever deny them justice.

“We suspected that Biden’s DOJ would attempt to sweep this evidence under the rug. This is yet another step in the coordinated effort to protect Big Abortion and Caesare Santangelo’s horrific crimes. These children cry out for justice and we won’t stop fighting for them,” she told LifeNews.

The group, which originally discovered the remains of the Five, along with the bodies of 115 other aborted children in 2021, plans to lobby Congress this week in a last ditch effort to preserve this key evidence.

“House and Senate Republicans have repeatedly called for action on this issue, it’s time that they put their money where their mouth is and act now.”, says William Reynolds, director of Legislative Strategy at PAAU.

Without proper Congressional intervention, the remains could be destroyed as early as February 13.

In March 2022, Terrisa Bukovinac and Lauren Handy found the bodies of the five late-term aborted babies and more than 100 first-trimester aborted babies in boxes that they received from a truck driver who was collecting medical waste from Santangelo’s abortion facility.

Last year, dozens of U.S. Congressional leaders joined pro-life advocates in demanding a federal investigation into Santangelo’s practice. However, some expressed doubts that the U.S. Department of Justice will do anything because pro-abortion Democrat officials with the Biden administration lead the agency.