Three More Pro-Life Activists Found Guilty of Violating FACE Act in Abortion Clinic BlockadeKatherine Hamilton 15 Sep 2023
Three more pro-life activists were found guilty on Friday and immediately incarcerated for their role in an abortion clinic blockade that took place in Washington, DC, in October of 2020.
Pro-life activists Joan Andrews Bell, 74; Jonathan Darnel, 40; and Jean Marshall, 72, were found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and conspiracy against rights for blocking access to the Washington Surgi-Clinic, a clinic infamous for late-term abortions. The guilty verdict comes after five other pro-life activists involved in the same blockade were found guilty on all charges in late August.
“This overreaching of power and authority by Biden’s DOJ is egregious and must be stopped. Nonviolent pro-life actions should not be a federal crime, and peaceful people with a desire to save lives should not be jailed for over a decade. Some of these Rescuers could be facing death by incarceration. We must repeal the FACE Act now!” said Caroline Taylor Smith, executive director of PAAU (Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising), a leftwing pro-life group.
During the blockade some activists “simply kneeled and prayed…some passed out pro-life literature and counseled abortion-minded women, and others roped and chained themselves together inside the facility,” attorneys for Lauren Handy, PAAU’s director of activism and one of the five activists found guilty in August, previously said of the incident. The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”
The three activists, along with Handy, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, Herb Geraghty, and John Hinshaw could face a potential “maximum sentence of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000,” according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Another activist, 32-year-old Jay Smith, previously accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to ten months in prison, and activist Paulette Harlow, 73, is awaiting trial on similar charges, according to the Department of Justice.
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https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2023/09/15/three-more-pro-life-activists-found-guilty-violating-face-act-abortion-clinic-blockade/
