by Mariane Angela
Three pro-life activists were sentenced this week for their involvement in a 2021 abortion clinic blockade.
Authorities indicted a group of pro-life activists in October 2022 for their involvement in blocking the entrance of Carafem Health Center Clinic in 2021, which prevented an employee and a patient from accessing the facility. The court imposed a 16-month prison sentence on Chester Gallagher Thursday for orchestrating the blockade in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, while Eva Edl received a three-year probation, according to The Associated Press.
Heather Idoni, already serving a two-year term for a similar offense in Washington, D.C., received an additional eight-month sentence on Friday, with U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger ruling it could overlap her current imprisonment, the AP reported. The court found both Gallagher and Idoni (pictured above) guilty of obstructing clinic access and conspiring against federal law, and they will face three years of supervised release after their prison terms.
BREAKING: Six pro-life activists were just found guilty in federal court after being prosecuted by Biden's DOJ under the FACE Act for protesting outside a Nashville abortion clinic.
Here's a snippet of the protest, which occurred on March 5, 2021.
For the crime of praying and… pic.twitter.com/ixgqDmdnaj
— 🇺🇲Salty Texan (@texan_maga) January 30, 2024
Prosecutors attributed Gallagher’s leading role to his past law enforcement background, which they claimed he misused to extend the duration of the blockade, the AP reported. Alongside a fellow defendant, Gallagher reportedly engaged in negotiations with law enforcement and complicated the efforts to clear the blockade that affected not only the Carafem clinic but also other medical facilities within the same building.
A Nashville jury convicted six pro-life activists involved in the blockade — Gallagher, Idoni, Coleman Boyd, Cal Zastrow, Paul Vaughn and Dennis Green — in January. Four more pro-life activists— Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place — were convicted in April.
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Mariane Angela is a reporter at Daily Caller News Foundation.
