- Six pro-life protesters were found guilty Tuesday of violating federal law by blocking the entrance to a Nashville-area abortion clinic during a 2021 demonstration.
- The defendants were charged under the Clinton Administration-era federal law, the Freedom of Admission to Clinics Act, which cracked down on obstruction and intimidation of abortion clinics.
- The defendant could be sentenced to up to 10 and a half years in prison for this crime.
A jury in Tennessee has convicted six anti-abortion protesters of violating federal law after blocking the entrance to a reproductive clinic in suburban Nashville nearly three years ago.
The jury’s decision, handed down late Tuesday after a week-long trial, accuses the federal government of using a 1994 federal law meant to protect abortion clinics to unfairly target abortion opponents. It marks the latest development in a case that has been closely watched by conservative groups. From interference or intimidation. Reproductive rights advocates oppose the law, known as the Free Clinic Admissions Act (FACE Act), which does more to protect abortion providers from violence now that the constitutional right to abortion has been stripped away. has become important.
At issue is a 2021 trial held outside a reproductive health clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, a town 17 miles east of Nashville, nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade. It’s a “blockade”. The event was organized by anti-abortion advocates who used social media to promote and livestream their efforts in hopes of stopping clinics from performing abortions, according to court documents.
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At the time, abortion was still legal in Tennessee. It is currently prohibited at all stages of pregnancy under legislation with very narrow exceptions.
Prosecutors said the protesters took up positions around the office building that housed the Karafem clinic, and several of them then began recording themselves as “leading the rescue,” which was a sign that a woman was trying to get an abortion. It is a term commonly known among anti-abortion activists as a deterrent to abortion. Prosecutors added that videos from the same day showed people blocking the entrance to the clinic and attempting to engage police as a delaying tactic. About 20 people participated in the blockade.
A federal grand jury originally indicted 11 people who took part in last year’s blockade, but six were convicted on Tuesday. Chester Gallagher, Paul Vaughn, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, and Dennis Green. They could be sentenced to 10 and a half years in prison and fined up to $260,000. A sentencing hearing will be held on July 2nd.
“These defendants have chosen to violate a law to which they knowingly disagree,” U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis said in a statement. “Today’s jury verdict is a victory for the rule of law in this country and a reminder that we don’t get to choose which laws we follow.”
Six pro-life activists have been convicted of federal crimes for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.
A lawyer representing the defendant said he plans to appeal the conviction. Defense attorneys describe 2021 demonstrations as “peaceful pro-life rallies,” and the federal Justice Department has prosecuted “pro-life activists” since the Supreme Court’s landmark 2022 ruling on abortion. he accused.
Steve Crampton, an attorney for the Thomas More Society, said: “This was a completely peaceful public demonstration of prayers, hymns, worship, and urging pregnant mothers not to abort their babies.” The purpose was to persuade them to do so.”
Before Roe’s decision was overturned, the Justice Department oversaw only a handful of FACE Act violations. In 2021, only three cases involving three defendants were prosecuted, and the agency handled only one case in 2020.
By 2022, that number had jumped to 11 cases involving 29 defendants. And last year there were 10 cases with 22 defendants.
Advocates, including the National Abortion Federation, argue that the increase in cases reflects an increase in harassment and violence abortion clinics have faced since state abortion bans were allowed to take effect. There is.
In its 2022 report, the organization said abortion providers across the country saw a significant spike in death threats, stalking, robbery and arson compared to the previous year.
But those numbers have led many conservative groups and Republican lawmakers to argue that law enforcement is downplaying similar threats and violence against the Catholic Church and so-called “crisis pregnancy centers” that advocate against abortion. It has become.
Some are calling on the Justice Department to more fairly apply the 1994 federal law and use it to investigate those who target crisis pregnancy centers. Meanwhile, a handful of Republican lawmakers have introduced legislation that would eliminate the protections entirely.
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President Bill Clinton signed the FACE Act in 1994 following a series of high-profile attacks on abortion clinics, including the shooting death of Dr. David Gunn outside an abortion clinic in Pensacola, Florida, in 1993. .in the united states
