Five pro-life activists were found guilty this week of conspiring to block access to an abortion clinic in 2020. Dr. Monica Miller of Citizens for A Pro-Life Society says another related case is coming up soon.
"There are four other pro-lifers who were part of this rescue … on October 22, 2020 who are scheduled to go on trial in front of the same judge beginning on September 6th," she reports. "The judge bifurcated the defendants between two trials."
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, a nominee of former President Bill Clinton, barred the defendants from arguing their actions were protected by the First Amendment or were committed in defense of a third person; she described that as a "vigilante" defense.
Jurors deliberated for a day and a half before returning their verdict that Dr. Miller calls devastating.
"I was at this trial altogether for seven days, so I had front-row seats … to what was going on in that courtroom," she tells AFN. "I was very hopeful that at least two of the defendants would have been acquitted at least on the FACE charge."
Those convicted are Lauren Handy, Heather Idoni, William Goodman, John Hinshaw, and Herb Geraghty.
"I think people need to pray for these rescuers and for the next four that are going to be going on trial in front of the same judge, the same prosecutors" next week, Dr. Miller adds.
Handy is being represented by Thomas More Society.
"Ms. Handy has been condemned for her efforts to protect the lives of innocent preborn human beings," attorney Martin Cannon summarizes. "We are preparing an appeal and will continue to defend those who fight for life against a Biden Department of Justice that seems intent on prosecuting those who decry abortion and present it as it is—the intentional killing of children in utero."
The court found that because the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violation —in this case—was a crime of "violence," all five defendants were incarcerated immediately. Thomas More Society attorney Steve Crampton calls that "an unexpected twist" and "an outrage."
"The defendants were led out of the courtroom by an army of U.S. Marshals," he relays.
The five pro-lifers had formed a human blockade at the entrance of the Washington Surgi-Clinic.
"The one thing the defendants had really agreed upon was to remain non-violent," Crampton notes.
He concludes that "the real violence is what happens during the abortion procedure."
