(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) Six pro-life activists face up to 11 years in federal prison following a Nashville jury’s verdict finding them guilty of violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and conspiracy against rights, as reported by the Daily Signal on Tuesday.
The guilty verdict came after the Biden DOJ decided to unleash criminal charges against Chet Gallagher, Coleman Boyd, Heather Idoni, Cal Zastrow, Dennis Green and Paul Vaughn. All of them had peacefully protested in the hallway of a Tennessee abortion clinic in March 2021.
🧵 1. The FACE Act criminalizes an odd assortment of offenses, including blocking access to and vandalizing (1) abortion clinics, (2) places of worship, and (3) pregnancy centers.
How many prosecutions has Team Biden brought in the second category?
Zero. Not even one. https://t.co/SbbYpGvh7P
— Mike Lee (@BasedMikeLee) January 30, 2024
Video footage of the 2021 peaceful demonstration depicts the individuals praying and singing hymns to protest in support of the rights of the unborn. Despite this, federal prosecutors filed charges against the activists in 2022.
“The defendants livestreamed the event on social media, during which they blockaded the entrances to the clinic and interfered with the reproductive health rights of patients and clinic employees,” a DOJ statement said. “Several defendants traveled from out-of-state to participate in the charged offenses.”
The Thomas More Society, which represents Vaughn, said on Tuesday that they will appeal the conviction.
“We are, of course, disappointed with the outcome,” said Steve Crampton, an attorney for Vaughn. “This was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens—filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship—oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies.”
He added, “Unfortunately, the Biden Department of Justice decided to characterize Paul Vaughn’s peaceful actions as a felony ‘conspiracy against rights,’ to intimidate and punish Paul and other pro-life people and people of faith.”
Vaughn, a father of 11 children, told the Daily Signal that the FBI stormed to his house with their guns “pointed” at this home. “‘Open up. FBI,’” the agents shouted at the man. “When I opened the door and saw the guns pointed at me, I asked them what they wanted, who they were looking for, and they said they wanted me.”
Paul Vaughn, his wife, and his 11 children. Their father now faces 11 years in prison. https://t.co/mQKv4BR8wF pic.twitter.com/npEGx8gMUd
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) January 30, 2024
Footage of the incident showed a defiant FBI agent refusing to provide the Vaughn’s terrified wife of why they were taking their husband.
“I wanna know why you were banging on my door with a gun? Are you not going to tell me anything?” she pleaded with the FBI agents, to which one replied: “No, we are not,” while another added: “I tried.”
Video of the FBI’s arrest of Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee. DOJ charged him with “conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations” for blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic. Paul tells me the footage was taken by his wife. pic.twitter.com/KSDvLRSrlF
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) October 7, 2022
