Eleven pro-life activists have been indicted for physically blockading a Tennessee abortion clinic and using force to intimidate the staff and patients, according to the DOJ.
They have been charged with violating the FACE Act when they entered Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mount Juliet on March 5 last year and prevented employees of the clinic and at least one prospective patient from entering the building.
The FACE Act is a 1994 law signed by Bill Clinton that prohibits protestors from blocking abortion clinics. Seven of the protesters have been charged with a civil rights conspiracy for organizing the events.
Among those indicted are ringleader Chester Gallagher, 73; and Coleman Boyd, 50, a pro-life physician who has been known to go to abortion clinics and read scripture and convince women to change their mind.
Those charged with conspiracy face up to 11 years in prison if convicted and a $350,000 fine, while the others could spend a year behind bars and be fined $10,000.
Gallagher, left, is alleged to have organized the protest with the intention of violating the FACE Act, while Boyd, right, livestreamed the protest to his followers on Facebook
The eleven activists have been charged with violating the FACE Act when they entered Carafem Health Center Clinic (pictured) in Mount Juliet on March 5 last year and prevented employees of the clinic and at least one prospective patient from entering the building
Protesters entered Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mount Juliet on March 5 and blockaded it by sitting in hallways
They were arrested and removed peacefully, but now 18 months on they face federal charges for violating the FACE Act
‘The 11 individuals, aided and abetted by one another, used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services,’ the DOJ allege.
Chester Gallagher is alleged to have conspired to organize a series of anti-abortion events in the Nashville area on Facebook for early March, which would violate the FACE Act.
Gallagher described the blockade as a ‘rescue’ in the post, which was scheduled for the following day.
Boyd livestreamed the protest as the group loitered in the corridors of the clinic, blocking the doors and stopping people from coming and going.
The protest had began initially as a ‘peaceful assembly’ outside the clinic, but it got uglier after the demonstrators went inside and refused to leave, according to Mt Juliet police, who were called about 8am.
‘We wanted to make sure they don’t feel welcome to kill babies in this city,’ said protestor David Zastrow to NewsChannel5, who stayed outside and did not enter the clinic.
‘We understand there were some mothers who wanted to kill their babies inside the abortion clinic on the second floor, so a group of Christians decided they were able to stop that from happening.’
An unidentified man who went inside said he did it to put ‘ourselves between an abortion provider and women seeking abortion.’
The protest was peaceful and no one resisted arrest, Mt. Juliet Police Captain Tyler Chandler said at the time.
‘There wasn’t any force used, we didn’t have to forcefully remove anyone,’ Chandler said.
‘And then they began to pass out papers saying they were already arrested, so it appears this group showed up today with the intent on being arrested by our department.’
Eight adults and four teenagers were hit with trespassing and juvenile citations, while four the adults were also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor.
But, 18 months on, they have now been slapped with federal charges.
The DOJ charged seven of the protesters with ‘conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act,’ including Chester Gallagher, 73; Paul Vaughn, 55; Heather Idoni, 58; Calvin Zastrow, 57; Caroline Davis, 24; Coleman Boyd, 51; and Dennis Green, 56.
The indictment also charged four others with committing FACE Act violations: Eva Edl, 87; Eva Zastrow, 24; James Zastrow, 25; and Paul Place, 24.
Texas Senator Ted Cruz came to the defense of the protesters and hit out against the ‘outrageous partisan abuse’ of the Biden DOJ on Twitter.
The Carafem clinic put out a statement saying that ‘blocking the entrance into or out of any business is unconscionable — it is harassment, it is illegal and it will not be tolerated.
‘No one should be blocked from getting health care or be intimidated when they seek to enter a small business of any kind. No one should experience intrusion or harassment.
‘The tactics used by the anti-abortion extremists right here in Nashville and across the country are intended to shame, frighten, and prevent people from obtaining the legal goods and services that they want and need.
The Carafem clinic had become accustomed to protesters on the streets outside the complex and even received harassment from the city of Mount Juliet when commissioners passed a zoning ordinance that had the effect of banning surgical abortions anywhere within city limits.
Carafem sued the city in a federal court in Nashville in 2020 and won back their right to perform abortions, plus $225,000 in legal fees
‘City commissioners in Mt. Juliet have now wasted taxpayers’ money and months in court, in a futile attempt to ban access to abortion,’ Andrew Beck, senior staff attorney with the ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project said in a press release.
However, Tennessee introduced an abortion ban in the state of following the Supreme Court’s strike down of Roe v Wade in June this year.
The clinic was finally forced to stop providing abortions, and complied with the ban on August 25.
‘Due to Tennessee’s abortion ban, carafem’s Mt. Juliet health center will no longer provide procedural abortion or abortion pills effective August 25, 2022,’ they wrote in a statement on their website.
New analysis shows that 66 clinics across 15 states have stopped offering abortion services in the one hundred days since the Supreme Court struck down the Rode v Wade ruling that constitutionally guaranteed abortions
These fifteen states are home to 22million women of child-bearing age (from 15 – 49), which accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s women of that age. Pictured: Pro-choice demonstrators protest outside the Susan B. Anthony Pro-life Gala on Sept 13
‘Carafem’s doors will remain open and in compliance with state law offering a wide range of services including affordable birth control options, STI testing and treatment, pregnancy testing and ultrasound for pregnancy dating.’
Carafem is one of 66 clinics across 15 states which has stopped providing abortions following the June 24 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that removed the constitutional right to an abortion.
The clinics are located in the 13 states that have enacted near-total abortion bans since the Dobbs ruling, plus Georgia and Wisconsin.
These fifteen states are home to 22million women of child-bearing age (from 15 – 49), which accounts for 30 per cent of the country’s women of that age.
The research means that nearly a third of the female population of the USA have to travel to neighboring states to access abortion services, often crossing multiple state lines in journeys that can be costly, arduous and distressing.
In Wisconsin, clinics have suspended abortions over uncertainty about the enforceability of an 1849 ban, which physicians say is vague, leaving them fearful of future prosecution if they carry out an abortion.
Before the Dobbs ruling, these 15 states were home to 79 clinics offering abortion services, leaving only 13 that continue to do so – but in restricted form.
The 13 clinics are all located in Georgia, where abortion is still legal. However, legislation brought in on July 20 means that only until the sixth week of pregnancy.