A federal court handed prison sentences to two pro-life activists last week for protesting outside a Tennessee abortion clinic in 2021. They faced charges including “conspiracy against rights” and infringing the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which the U.S. Justice Department says “prohibits threats of force, obstruction, and property damage intended to interfere with reproductive health care services.” An 89-year-old activist received three years of probation.
U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger sentenced Chester Gallagher to 16 months in prison on September 27. Heather Idoni received an eight-month prison term from Judge Trauger, which will run concurrently with a two-year sentence she is already serving for similar charges related to a 2020 protest in Washington, D.C. U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley sentenced Eva Edl, 89, to probation on September 26.
Steve Crampton, an attorney from the Thomas More Society representing Calvin Vaughn, who was sentenced in July for his involvement in the Tennessee protest, said it was “a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens—filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship—oriented toward persuading expectant mothers not to abort their babies.”
In addition to their Tennessee convictions, Edl, Gallagher, Idoni, and another activist, Paul Zastrow, face separate charges under the FACE Act for a protest in Michigan. Edl faces up to 11 years in prison for the Michigan charges.
