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FBI agents reportedly show up at pro-life activist’s childhood home: ‘She’s not in any trouble, but…’

May 18, 2023 | | Print Article

Two FBI agents reportedly visited the childhood home of a pro-life activist in April, only a few short months after the activist joined a pro-life group.

The pro-life group, Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), is a rare left-wing group that advocates against abortion. Activist Elise Ketch reportedly joined the group in December after volunteering with it for a few months.

“Her entrance into the pro-life group came as PAAU activists Lauren Handy, Jonathan Darnel, and Herb Geraghty faced charges from the Justice Department for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act,” according to The Daily Signal.

“The incidents that these activists were involved in all took place before they were members of PAAU, the group’s founder, Terrisa Bukovinac, [said]. Ketch does not believe that she has ever been involved in any kind of activity that would allow authorities to bring FACE Act charges against her,” the outlet reported Wednesday.

The most she’s ever reportedly done is participate in “Pink Rose Rescues,” wherein the activists sneak into an abortion facility and “quietly hand out pink roses to people in the waiting room.” Each rose contains info about pregnancy resources.

Ketch has also reportedly participated in nonviolent demonstrations.

Nonetheless, despite the lack of criminal history, two FBI agents — identified as Ashley Roberts and Kathleen Brown — showed up at the home of Ketch’s mother, Tracy Ketch, around 2:45 pm on the afternoon of April 18th.

“We are both with the FBI. We just need to speak with her regarding some information that was sent to us,” Roberts told Ketch’s mother.

When she replied that her daughter no longer lives there, they asked for her most recent address or phone number.

“She’s not in any trouble. We just have some information we need to ask her about,” Roberts continued, trying to reassure Ketch’s mother.

“We would tell you all the information because, like I said, she’s not in any trouble, but just out of respect for her, we’d like to speak with her first,” she added.

Listen:

At one point during the altercation, Ketch’s mom called her.

“I have two FBI agents at the front door,” she told her over the phone.

“FBI agents? Mom, don’t tell them anything,” Ketch replied.

“Ok, what do you want me to do?” her mother then asked.

Speaking with The Daily Signal afterward, Ketch said she has “no idea what information the FBI was sent” that’d make it necessary for them to talk to her. She has some guesses, though.

“My colleague at Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, Lauren Handy, is indicted under the FACE Act and is being prosecuted by the federal government. It’s plausible that these FBI agents aimed to collect information from me to help build their case against her,” she said.

“While they reassured my mother that I was not in trouble, it’s also possible that they see me as a threat due to my pro-life activism and intended to investigate me. Yet, to my knowledge, they never attempted to follow up with me or my attorney, so I believe the FBI’s true motive behind their visit to my parents’ home was to intimidate me and my team,” she added.

Continuing her remarks, she also talked about the “weaponization of our government institutions.”

“This weaponization of our government institutions protects the abortion industrial complex, and it reinforces that we must disrupt these unjust power structures,” she said.

“The most prevalent domestic threat to our country is the murder of thousands of preborn people by abortion each day. It is not terrorism to nonviolently intervene and rescue these powerless children before their slaughter. I’m willing to risk my own freedom and sacrifice my rights in order to secure theirs,” she added.

PAAU’s founder, Terrisa Bukovinac, personally believes “the feds are desperate to find a reason to shut us down and they’re not above coming to our parents’ homes to try to find what they’re looking for.”

“The FBI is targeting PAAU members because our activism challenges the property lines of and disrupts commerce for the abortion industrial complex. We are especially a problem for them because we are nonviolent and therefore our efforts and ideas are rapidly catching on,” she told The Daily Signal.

All this comes as the Department of Justice continues to do virtually nothing about the barrage of attacks on Catholic churches and pro-life pregnancy centers, choosing instead to use their time chasing after peaceful pro-life protesters.

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Vivek Saxena
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