An elderly Soviet concentration camp survivor and six other pro-life advocates were convicted of blocking access to an abortion clinic in Michigan, the latest in a series of major federal court rulings against pro-life protesters. .
The seven defendants in the case were found guilty for their involvement in a “blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan” on August 27, 2020, the US Department of Justice said. in a press release released on Tuesday, August 20.
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The protesters were convicted of both a felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act offense, the government said. Sentencing will be set at a later date.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, claimed that pro-life activists had “orchestrated an illegal blockade of the clinic and physically obstructed patients seeking access to their doctors, without regard to the serious medical needs of women who were prevented from accessing reproductive health care.”
The defendants — Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl and Eva Zastrow — organized the demonstration as part of a “Michigan Holiness Revival Tour,” which allegedly departed with the “express purpose of blocking a reproductive health clinic,” the Justice Department said.
Eva Edl, 89, is a well-known pro-life activist and communist concentration camp survivor who fled Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe.
His biography reveals that her mother was kidnapped by the Soviets in post-war Europe, after which she and her siblings were sent to communist concentration camps in Yugoslavia. She eventually escaped and emigrated to the United States.
The Biden administration has aggressively prosecuted several FACE Act cases in recent years, imposing prison sentences on men and women who attempted to block access to abortion clinics across the country.
Some of the activists found guilty this week, including Eva Edl, were also found guilty earlier this year for a similar blockade of an abortion clinic in Tennessee in 2021. Edl has not yet been sentenced for that conviction.
Last year, several pro-life activists were convicted under the FACE Law by a demonstration in October 2020 at the Washington Surgical Clinic, led by Cesare Santangelo in Washington DC
Pro-life advocate Lauren Handy, 30, was sentenced in May to four years and nine months in prison for organizing the protest.
Several other protesters were sentenced to prison terms between two and three years.
Texas Republican Rep. Chip Roy and 25 House Republicans They presented a resolution last year to repeal the FACE Act, arguing that the Biden administration had “blatantly weaponized the FACE Act against ordinary Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life.”
Former President Donald Trump, for his part, indicated this year that he would take steps to free some of the convicted pro-lifers if he is re-elected president in November.
“A lot of people are in jail for this… We’re going to take care of it right away, (on) day one,” he told the Faith and Freedom Coalition in June.
Translated and adapted by the ACI Prensa team. Originally published in CNA.
Daniel Payne
Daniel Payne is senior editor at Catholic News Agency. He previously worked on College Fix and Just the News. He lives in Virginia with his family.