Nearly two dozen members of Congress have signed a letter to DC Mayor Muriel Bowser demanding an immediate investigation into the deaths of the five aborted babies found by a pro-life activist.
The 23 Republican representatives want autopsies performed to determine if the late-term fetuses were subjected to partial-birth abortion or born alive, then killed — both of which are federal crimes.
BREAKING: 23 Members of Congress demand DC Mayor Muriel Bowser and the police chief launch an immediate investigation into the deaths of the five children who may have been victims of illegal partial-birth abortion or born alive, then killed.
RT! pic.twitter.com/TegLNSFcMt
— Live Action (@LiveAction) April 6, 2022
The letter was penned by Senator James Lankford and signed by Senators Thom Tillis, Mike Crapo, James Risch, Mike Lee, Mike Braun, John Boozman, Roger Marshall, Roger Wicker, James Inhofe, Marsha Blackburn, Steve Daines, Josh Hawley, Jerry Moran, Cynthia Lummis, Ben Sasse, Ted Cruz, and Joni Ernst, as well as Representatives Jim Jordan, Vicky Hartzler, Debbie Lesko, Ralph Norman, and Christopher Smith.
Lauren Handy, director for the anti-abortion group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), and Terrisa Bukovinac, the group’s founder, obtained a box containing 115 aborted fetuses from outside the Surgi-Center in DC. Five of them appeared to be within the 26-32 week range, which is typically considered far enough along to survive outside the womb.
The clinic is run by Dr. Cesare Santangelo, who was captured on video by Live Action News in 2013 saying that he does not provide life-saving care for viable, premature babies born after a failed abortion.
After performing naming ceremonies and funerals for the 110 first-term fetuses, the five in question were turned over to the police in hopes that autopsies would be conducted and that they would be given proper burials.
However, according to a report from the Washington Post, the city medical examiner is not planning to perform autopsies.
Ashan Benedict, D.C. police’s executive assistant chief of police, said during a press conference that they appeared to have been aborted “in accordance with D.C. law [and] there doesn’t seem to be anything criminal in nature about that except for how they got into this house.”
In the letter addressed to Mayor Bowser and Police Chief Robert J. Contee III, Sen. Lankford wrote, “instead of ensuring that the horrific deaths of these children were properly investigated, Metropolitan Police made the assumption that each child died as the result of a legal abortion. It is our understanding that the Metropolitan Police made this assumption without conducting any medical evaluations. We also understand from press reports that the D.C. medical examiner does not plan to perform autopsies on the children. This is completely unacceptable.”
“While other horrific methods of abortion unfortunately remain legal for the time being, killing a child through a partial-birth abortion is a crime under federal law. Under the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003, a partial-birth abortion occurs when a physician partially delivers a living child for the purpose of performing an overt act that intentionally takes the life of the child. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the federal ban on partial-birth abortions in Gonzales v. Carhart in 2007,” the letter continued.
The letter explained that the Born Alive Infants Protection Act was passed by Congress to provide equal protections for children who are born alive during an abortion.
“These five children, like all children, have inherent value and deserved better than abortion – they deserved life. But at a minimum, they deserve to have their deaths investigated to ensure that no D.C. or federal laws were broken. In light of this information, we demand that a thorough investigation is conducted into the death of each child,” the letter continued. “In order to accomplish such investigation, we request and fully expect the city to conduct autopsies on the children and preserve all collected evidence. Finally, at the conclusion of such examinations, we urge the city to properly and respectfully bury the babies.”
The lawmakers went on to demand responses to the following questions by April 6:
1. As you are aware partial-birth abortion, as defined in 18 U.S. Code § 1531 is illegal and punishable by
fine, imprisonment or both. How did the Metropolitan Police reach the conclusion while recovering
the remains of each child that all of the children died as the result of a legal abortion?
2. In order to ensure that no child was subjected to a partial birth abortion and that no child was born
alive and left to die, will you commit to conducting a thorough investigation of the death of each
child?
3. As part of such investigation, will you commit to ensuring the preservation of each child’s remains for
appropriate examination during the investigation?
4. Will you direct the Chief Medical Examiner to perform an autopsy on each child to determine the
method and cause of death in accordance with § 5–1405 of D.C. Code?
5. Will you direct a subsequent autopsy to be completed by an independent, licensed pathologist to
confirm the findings of the Chief Medical Examiner?
6. If an autopsy suggests any of the children were victims of criminal activity, will you immediately refer
the evidence to both the Department of Justice and the Attorney General for the District of
Columbia for criminal prosecution?
7. Will you commit to properly and respectfully burying each child?
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene also released a video on Tuesday calling for a full investigation “to determine when and how these innocent babies died.”
Last week, the remains of five infants were delivered to DC Metro police in a condition consistent with partial birth abortion or infanticide.
I’m calling for a full medical examination and police investigation to determine when and how these innocent babies died. pic.twitter.com/B2wRkKNgzs
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) April 5, 2022
