Although the First Amendment of the Constitution guarantees the right to peacefully assemble, modern leftists seem to have determined that such liberty does not extend to the area surrounding abortion clinics.
There have been several troubling cases involving the prosecution of individuals, many of whom are elderly, under a federal provision designed to specifically clear abortion providers of pro-life demonstrators.
The Daily Wire covered one recent example:
A 75-year-old pro-life Christian has been sentenced to 16 months in federal prison over his participation in a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion facility.
Chet Gallagher was sentenced to prison in at federal court in Nashville on Thursday afternoon for his conviction on violating the FACE Act and engaging in a conspiracy against rights. The convictions stemmed from his role in a peaceful sit-in at a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, abortion facility in March 2021 and the Biden administration brought charges in October 2022.
The government had asked for a 20 month prison sentence, but Judge Aleta Trauger ended up giving Gallagher 16 months on the conspiracy charge followed by three years of supervised release. On the FACE Act charge, she gave him six months, which will run concurrently with the conspiracy charge sentence. Gallagher was ordered to report to prison in February, but that may be delayed due to pending sentencing on similar convictions in Detroit.
During the protest, Gallagher and other pro-lifers sat and stood in a hallway outside the entrance to the Carafem Health Center while singing, praying, and urging women not to get abortions.
Jodie Bell, Gallagher’s lawyer, asked for no prison time to be imposed due to his age and health problems, and emphasized his Christian faith. She also submitted a letter in support of Gallagher from Tennessee state Senator Mark Pody, a Republican from Lebanon where Gallagher lives.
ADVERTISEMENT
His case has sparked considerable social media discussion:
Chet Gallagher, age 75 and a pro-life Christian, was sentenced today to 16 months in a federal prison for a peaceful protest at a Tennessee abortion clinic. We guess only if you’re a looting Democrat arsonist protestor can you get off without an arrest or jail time.
— BenghaziRunningClub (@BenghaziRunClub) September 26, 2024
Chet Gallagher is one more pro-life individual targeted by the Biden/Harris DOJ.
Chet was just sentenced to over a year in federal prison for a peaceful protest of singing, praying, and urging women entering the abortion clinic to not get an abortion.
At the end of his… pic.twitter.com/GokqcojpLb— Survivors (@TheSurvivors_US) September 27, 2024
“Please pray for baby rescuers Cal Zastrow Coleman Boyd Chet Gallagher and Dennis Green for their federal sentencing today. May their sentence be light and may they rejoice to be counted worthy to suffer for the name of Jesus Christ!”
They took his advice; and after calling the… pic.twitter.com/uX8sFeGDmx
— David Vail (@vail31vail) July 4, 2024
Another prominent example involved an even older individual, as an op-ed in The Hill outlined earlier this year:
Sores covered nearly every inch of Eva Edl’s emaciated young body. People gagged when they came near her; bed bugs, fleas and lice were devouring her “festering body.”
These sickening details are only a fraction of the horrors young Eva suffered as a victim of the most dreaded communist death camp in Yugoslavia after World War II: Gakova. After years of living in hell, facing death daily, Eva’s family finally escaped to the U.S. They believed that America was free, and that their rights would be protected by a government with their best interests at heart.
Today, the government they trusted is fighting to throw 87-year-old Eva into prison for her pro-life advocacy.
Sadly, Eva’s plight perfectly exemplifies how dangerous the weaponization of the U.S. government has become, and how far the left will go to punish anyone who interferes with their radical agenda.
Eva is one of four pro-life advocates recently convicted under the Freedom to Access Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits the use of force, threat of force or physical obstruction to prevent women from obtaining or providing “reproductive health care services.”
ADVERTISEMENTIn March 2021, Eva and other pro-life advocates participated in a prayer protest inside a Tennessee abortion clinic. The pro-lifers stood in front of the clinic’s doors while peacefully singing Christian hymns and praying.
For this, they face up to six months in prison, five years of “supervised release” and fines up to $10,000. (Typically, FACE Act violations carry a maximum sentence of up to 11 years in prison, and up to $250k in fines.)
Meanwhile, pro-abortion rights extremists firebomb, vandalize and terrorize pro-life centers and Catholic Churches with impunity.
Here’s an interview with Gallagher recorded late last year:
Join the conversation!
Please share your thoughts about this article below. We value your opinions, and would love to see you add to the discussion!