A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C. convicted three individuals for “…a felony conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offense” for protesting an abortion clinic – suspected of providing illegal late-term abortions – in the city. Two two of the defendants, Jean Marshall and Joan Bell are over 70 years old.
The FACE Act is a Clinton-era law prohibiting protestors from physically blocking access to an abortion clinic, crisis pregnancy center, or place of religious worship. Since the Supreme Court handed down its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – effectively overturning Roe v. Wade and returning the abortion question to the states – President Joe Biden’s Department of Justice (DOJ) has stepped up FACE Act prosecutions of pro-life protestors, seemingly in revenge.
According to the DOJ, Marshall, Bell, and the third defendant – 41 year old Jonathan Darnel – each face “a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a fine of up to $350,000.” For Marshall and Bell, the maximum prison sentence would be tantamount to a life sentence in prison for an over-exuberant protest.
In late August, five other pro-life activists were convicted of violating the FACE Act during the same protest. One of the protestors, Lauren Handy, had contacted the Washington Metropolitan Police Department after she removed five aborted fetuses from the clinic’s medical waste. According to Handy, the fetuses showed advanced stages of development indicating the clinic was engaging in late-term abortion – barred by federal law. The Washington D.C. medical examiner’s office said they had no plans to autopsy the fetuses. No charges against the clinic were pursued.
