Late-Term Horror Puts DOJ On Trial

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Five nearly full-term babies found in a Washington, D.C., abortion clinic waste box are now at the center of a growing Republican push for the Trump Justice Department to investigate possible illegal late-term and partial-birth abortions.

Story Snapshot

Republican lawmakers say the “D.C. Five” may be evidence of crimes under federal abortion laws.
Pro-life activists report finding 115 aborted babies in a medical-waste box tied to a D.C. clinic.
The D.C. medical examiner planned to destroy the five bodies but paused under political pressure.
Trump-era Justice Department officials now face demands for autopsies and a full federal probe.

Gruesome discovery outside a D.C. abortion clinic

In March 2022, activists with the group Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising say they received a large medical-waste box outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic in northwest Washington, D.C., from a worker with a disposal company. Inside, they report finding the remains of 115 aborted babies, including five they describe as nearly full-term, with visible injuries such as deep cuts, crushed skulls, and severed limbs that raised alarms about how the abortions were done.

Activist Lauren Handy later kept those five bodies in her Capitol Hill apartment, telling reporters she did so to push authorities to investigate whether federal laws were broken. Police, acting on a tip about possible biohazard material, entered the home on March 30, 2022, and seized the five bodies, which were then transferred to the D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner for storage. The other 110 smaller remains were reportedly buried at an undisclosed location by activists.

Republican lawmakers demand DOJ investigation and autopsies

Since the discovery, Republican members of Congress and pro-life leaders have pressed the Department of Justice to treat the “D.C. Five” as possible crime victims, not medical trash. A bicameral letter led by Rep. Chris Smith of New Jersey and Sen. Mike Lee of Utah, joined by more than 55 Republican lawmakers, urged Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro to investigate whether the deaths involved infanticide or partial-birth abortion, both banned under federal law.

These lawmakers argue that the visible injuries on the babies are consistent with partial-birth abortion methods, where a child is delivered alive and then killed during the procedure, which Congress outlawed nationwide in 2003. They are also raising concerns under the Born-Alive Infant Protection Act, which requires that any baby born alive after an attempted abortion receive basic medical care, not be left to die unattended. Their letters demand full autopsies, preservation of the bodies as evidence, and a clear statement of what happened inside the clinic.

D.C. officials signal disposal as activists cry cover-up

The D.C. Office of the Chief Medical Examiner has held the five bodies since 2022 but did not perform autopsies and instead moved toward cremating and disposing of them as routine remains. After pressure from Republican senators such as James Lankford, who stressed that the babies “may well be evidence of a crime,” the office temporarily paused destruction but has still not committed to full forensic exams to determine cause and manner of death.

D.C. police leaders have publicly said the fetuses appeared to have been aborted “in accordance with D.C. law” and announced they were not opening a homicide investigation. Pro-life doctors and activists strongly dispute that conclusion, arguing that late-term babies with such severe injuries cannot be brushed aside without autopsies and a review of clinic records. They say the decision to move toward disposal, without a transparent medical review, looks like government helping an abortion business avoid scrutiny.

Trump DOJ now under pressure to act

Under President Trump’s second-term administration, congressional Republicans are treating the stalled D.C. case as a test of whether the Justice Department will enforce pro-life laws passed years ago but rarely used. At a recent House budget hearing, lawmakers reminded Attorney General Pam Bondi that these five babies were recovered from an abortion clinic and appear to show signs of brutal partial-birth procedures, pressing her on whether the department was doing anything about it.

Attorney General Bondi confirmed there is an “ongoing investigation” into the “D.C. Five” but said she could not discuss details in a public forum. For many pro-life conservatives, that answer is not enough. They want visible steps: formal autopsies, subpoenas for clinic records, and clear use of federal tools to check whether late-term abortions in the nation’s capital are breaking laws meant to protect both unborn children and those born alive. Until that happens, they see an unelected local bureaucracy trying to erase potential evidence that could expose a deeper pattern of abuse.