Dozens of GOP lawmakers demand DOJ autopsies and investigation of ‘DC Five’
CatholicVote’s Tom McClusky praised the lawmakers for pressing a case in which pro-life activists were prosecuted while allegations of illegal late-term abortions went unresolved.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., and more than 50 other Republican lawmakers are demanding that the Department of Justice (DOJ) complete an investigation into the deaths of five late-term aborted babies whose remains have been held by the D.C. medical examiner since 2022.
In a July 20 letter to Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Jeanine Pirro, the lawmakers requested autopsies, preservation of all evidence, and a determination of whether the children were killed through an illegal partial-birth abortion or by infanticide after being born.
The lawmakers also asked that the children receive “a proper and respectful burial” once the investigation is complete and any responsible parties have been brought to justice.
CatholicVote Director of Government Affairs Tom McClusky praised Lee and Smith for renewing pressure on the administration.
“One of the first things President Trump did in his second term was to pardon the pro-life advocates who, under President Biden, discovered late-term abortions and other heinous acts being done in a D.C. abortuary,” McClusky told Zeale News. “I commend Rep. Smith and Sen. Mike Lee for following up to find out why only pro-lifers were charged in the incident, yet the perpetrators of potential murder were never prosecuted.”
The bodies of the five babies, commonly known as the “D.C. Five,” were recovered by the Metropolitan Police Department in March 2022. Pro-life activists Lauren Handy and Terrisa Bukovinac said they had obtained a box containing fetal remains from a medical-waste driver outside the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a facility operated by notorious late-term abortionist Cesare Santangelo.
The activists arranged for the burial of more than 100 smaller aborted babies found inside the box but retained the remains of five larger babies because they believed their condition indicated possible violations of federal law.
D.C. police said at the time that the babies appeared to have been aborted in accordance with local law and that there was no apparent criminal conduct related to their deaths. The medical examiner did not conduct autopsies, however, leaving unresolved questions about the procedures used and whether any of the children were born alive.
Physicians who reviewed the publicly released photographs and video said several of the babies appeared to have reached a viable gestational age. Neonatal specialist Dr. Robin Pierucci said she believed the babies died at an age when they could have survived outside the womb. Retired OB-GYN and former abortionist Dr. Kathi Aultman said one baby boy appeared to be in the third trimester and near term, while injuries visible on a baby girl could indicate an illegal partial-birth abortion if the child was alive when the procedure began.
Separately, neonatologist Dr. Kendra Kolb estimated that the baby girl was approximately 28 to 30 weeks old and said photographs showed injuries that could correspond to the abortion method used. No autopsies have publicly confirmed these assessments.
The Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act of 2003 prohibits deliberately killing a living child after partially delivering the child. The Born-Alive Infants Protection Act also recognizes an infant born alive after an attempted abortion as a person entitled to protection under federal law.
Lee and Smith previously led 69 members of Congress in an April 2022 letter asking then-Attorney General Merrick Garland to investigate the deaths and preserve the remains. According to the new letter, Garland’s DOJ never provided a substantive response or indicated that an investigation had taken place.
Reports emerged in 2024 that the DOJ had advised the D.C. chief medical examiner to dispose of the remains. Members of Congress intervened and secured their continued preservation, as CatholicVote reported at the time.
President Donald Trump pardoned 24 pro-life activists on Jan. 23, 2025, in cases involving the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and related offenses. Those pardoned included Handy and nine co-defendants convicted in connection with a 2020 blockade at the Washington Surgi-Clinic.
Critics of the Biden administration have repeatedly contrasted those prosecutions with the failure to determine conclusively how the five babies died.
The current administration has indicated that the case remains open. During a June 2025 House hearing, then-Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the DOJ was conducting an “ongoing investigation” but said she could not discuss it publicly.
As CatholicVote reported, the organization joined nine other pro-life groups in a May 2025 letter urging Pirro to conduct a full criminal investigation. Catholic Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., also questioned Bondi about the case during the House hearing.
The lawmakers’ latest demand comes shortly before a July 22 deadline established in a congressional report accompanying a government funding law signed by Trump in January. The report called for the DOJ to brief congressional committees within 180 days on all actions previously taken concerning the five babies.
Four Senate Judiciary Committee members — Lee and Sens. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa; Ted Cruz, R-Texas; and Josh Hawley, R-Mo. — signed the new letter as Blanche awaits a committee vote on his nomination to become attorney general.
“We cannot undo the grievous, barbaric acts that killed these children in their most vulnerable stage,” the lawmakers concluded, “but we equally cannot allow such lawlessness and inhumanity to evade our justice system any longer.”
