WASHINGTON (ChurchMilitant.com) – Intervention by select GOP lawmakers has halted the destruction of the remains of five preborn babies — at least for now.
Sen. Ted Cruz
After public outcry, the remains of the unborn babies, known in media reports as the “DC 5,” may yet be interred in a dignified resting place. The pro-lifers who originally intercepted the remains — which were about to be discarded at a Washington, D.C., abortuary in 2022 — named the babies Christopher X, Harriet, Phoenix, Ángel and Holly.
Senator Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was one of the lawmakers who took a stand for the preborn children. In a scathing letter last week to Washington, D.C.’s Mayor Muriel Bowser and other D.C. officials, he demanded the remains be preserved.
Cruz wrote:
To be clear, the remains of these five children are critical evidence in the congressional oversight that the Subcommittee on the Constitution will conduct in the imminent future. … Should the D.C. medical examiner’s office decide not to conduct timely autopsies, or preserve the bodies of these babies for outside examination, the Senate Judiciary Committee will have no choice but to expand this issue into a full hearing featuring the Department of Justice and the Office of the D.C. Medical Examiner as witnesses before the American public.
Cruz’s letter reveals that more than a respectful burial for the deceased babies is at stake. The destruction of the remains would prevent autopsies on the infants. The autopsies, in turn, could reveal evidence that the D.C. abortuary where the abortions were performed may have violated the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003. This federal law prohibits abortion after a child is partially born.
Lauren Handy’s anti-abortion group now claims it took
115 fetuses from outside DC clinic
The remains of the unborn babies were scheduled to be destroyed by the end of business on Friday as per orders of the Department of Justice to the D.C. Medical Examiner’s Office.
Martin Cannon, an attorney for the Thomas More Society (TMS) who is representing the pro-lifers trying to preserve the remains, questioned the medical examiner’s office for accepting “such stark marching orders from the DOJ.”
If I understand the structure of things correctly, there’s no real reason the DOJ should have such sway over the examiner’s office. … There is a general need to have these babies examined. There is literally exactly a 50% chance that two of these babies … that each of them was born alive and left to die. … There’s some chance that the others were subject to illegal partial-birth abortions.
“The DOJ knows this,” Cannon added. “Those are federal crimes.”
Grim Discovery & Aftermath
High-profile pro-lifers, Lauren Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac, members of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), say they discovered the remains in 2022 outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic, run by the infamous Dr. Cesare Santangelo. They intercepted the bodies of the DC 5 and the bodies of 110 other aborted preborns as they were about to be loaded onto a garbage truck.
The DC 5 were notable because of their age — some seemingly close to full-term development — and, according to the pro-lifers, had physical characteristics that indicated illegal practices may have occurred in connection with their deaths.
According to a local TV news report, the pro-lifers — unable to find a pathologist willing to autopsy the remains — were arrested for their pro-life activism before they could turn over the bodies to D.C. homicide investigators.
Handy was one of five pro-lifers convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act in connection with a 2020 mission to rescue children at the D.C. abortuary. They each face up to 11 years in prison.
According to TMS, the bodies of the 110 aborted preborn babies were given a Christian burial by a Catholic priest in 2022.
TMS legal counsel has informed Church Militant that Cdl. Wilton Gregory of Washington, D.C., has already committed to providing a dignified burial for Christopher X, Harriet, Phoenix, Ángel and Holly.
“We are demanding that once it becomes appropriate, the remains of the D.C. 5 be relinquished to Cardinal Gregory for dignified burial,” the TMS said.
Burying the dead out of respect for the dignity of a human person is recognized by Catholics as one of the corporal works of mercy that help atone for sin.
Keeping Up the Pressure
Other legislators who have raised their voices on behalf of the murdered unborn include Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., who have pressured Mayor Bowser.
(L to R) Reps. Chip Roy, Andy Biggs and Pat Fallon
Additionally, Rep. Pat Fallon, R-Texas, has demanded the DOJ preserve the remains, according to the TMS.
Extremely graphic photos of some of the babies were made public by lawmakers in 2022.
On social media, pro-life activists continue to urge the public to contact government representatives to demand justice for the babies, known on social platforms as the #DC5.
The posts contain a link to representatives’ contact information.
