Four anti-abortion protesters were found guilty of violating the FACE Act in federal court on Tuesday in the second round of pro-lifers charged with blocking the entrance to an abortion clinic three years ago.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Jeffery S. Frensley convicted the defendants of a misdemeanor violation of the federal law for blocking the entrance of the Carafem abortion clinic outside Nashville during a demonstration in March 2021, according to The Tennessean.
The defendants, Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Place, face up to six months in prison, five years of supervised release, and fines of up to $10,000, The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Tennessee announced. Sentencing will take place at the end of July.
"Evidence presented at trial proved that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using physical obstruction over the course of several hours to interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because the clinic was providing, and the patient sought, reproductive health services," a press release states.
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"The clinic was located on the second floor of a medical building. The defendants and others filled the interior hallway to the clinic. These defendants positioned themselves directly in front of the main clinic door for over two hours, physically blocking access to the clinic, resulting in no patients accessing the clinic. Police requested that the defendants leave or move multiple times, but after more than two hours, these defendants were arrested," the statement continued.
The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, or FACE Act, makes it a federal crime, with potentially steep fines and jail time, to use or threaten to use force to "injure, intimidate, or interfere" with a person seeking reproductive health services, or with a person lawfully trying to exercise the First Amendment right of religious freedom at a place of religious worship. The FACE Act also prohibits intentional property damage to a facility providing reproductive health services or a place of religious worship.
The verdicts come after six other pro-life protesters at the same 2021 demonstration were convicted of violating federal law in January. They face up to 10.5 years of prison time and fines of up to $260,000. Sentencing hearings will take place July 2.
The case is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Tennessee and the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office announced.
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Attorneys representing the defendants at the January trial argued the demonstration was peaceful and accused the Justice Department of prosecuting "pro-life activists" ever since the Supreme Court's landmark 2022 abortion decision.
"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," Steve Crampton, an attorney with the Thomas More Society, said.
Fox News' Brianna Herlihy and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
