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‘Something truly evil is happening’: DOJ indicts 11 pro-life activists after protesting outside Tenn abortion clinic

October 6, 2022 | | Print Article

Citing FACE Act violations, the Department of Justice (DOJ) has indicted 11 pro-life activists who are accused of blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic near Nashville in March and physically preventing employees and at least one patient from going inside the building.

Under the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, it is against the law for pro-choice activists to block access to clinics that offer abortions, and according to the Biden administration’s DOJ, Chester Gallagher, 73; Paul Vaughn, 55; Heather Idoni, 58; Calvin Zastrow, 57; Caroline Davis, 24; Coleman Boyd, 51; and Dennis Green, 56, are all guilty of doing just that.

The seven accused activists have been charged with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act.” Four other protestors — Eva Zastro, 24; James Zastro, 25; Paul Place, 24; and 87-year-old Eva Edl — have also been charged with FACE Act violations.

If convicted of conspiracy, the seven activists each face up to 11 years behind bars and a fine of up to $250,000. The four charged with violations of the FACE Act could face as much as a $10,000 fine and spend up to a year in prison.

According to the DOJ, one of the indicted activists, Coleman Boyd, live-streamed an organized event at the Carafem Health Center Clinic, where the group allegedly “blocked the clinic’s entry doors and prevented a patient and an employee from entering.”

The agency claims Boyd’s footage of the protest showed the group “attempting to engage a patient and her companion as Boyd told his live stream audience that the patient was a ‘mom coming to kill her baby.'”

For conservatives, who just weeks ago were horrified by the FBI’s raid on the Pennsylvania home of Catholic pro-life activist Mark Houck as his seven children screamed in terror, it is yet another example of the Biden administration weaponizing the DOJ against his ideological opponents.

Houck, too, is now facing an 11-year sentence, along with up to three years of supervised release and as much as $350,000 in fines for a case that was initially dismissed by a Pennsylvania court.

On Twitter, Greg Price says it’s a sign that “Something truly evil is happening at the DOJ.”

As Price notes, the DOJ has yet to charge anyone for the slew of violent acts perpetrated against the nation’s pro-life pregnancy centers after the Supreme Court’s explosive reversal of Roe v. Wade.

“They are charging 11 pro-life activists for blocking the entrance to abortion clinics, carrying up to 11 years in prison and $250,000 fines,” he tweeted. “A total of 0 people have been charged by the DOJ for firebombing pro-life pregnancy centers.”

“Peaceful protests at abortion clinics get you federal charges from the DOJ,” he continued. “Acts of terrorism against pregnancy centers are totally fine.”

“Also,” he added, “a total of zero people were charged by the DOJ for the protests held outside the homes of Supreme Court justices, which is an actual violation of federal law, but they’re gonna put people on [sic] jail for protests outside abortion clinics.”

Pro-life activist AJ Hurley, a friend to many of those charged, insists the blockade of the clinic was peaceful.

Still, the FBI raided Gallagher’s home on Wednesday morning with “guns drawn,” Hurley told the Daily Signal.

“He happened to be in South Carolina, but the neighbors reported and then [the FBI] ended up coming to talk to the neighbors to get his cellphone number, to find out where he was,” Hurley explained. “He was in South Carolina, immediately offered to turn himself in to the U.S. Marshals’ office, which they said he could turn himself in tomorrow, so he’ll be turning himself in tomorrow morning.”

Melissa Fine
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