The Justice Department on Wednesday charged eight people with blocking access to an abortion clinic.
Defendants Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl and Eva Zastrow were also indicted in a civil rights conspiracy connected to a protest they held outside an abortion facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan in August 2020, a DOJ press release said.
The group “did willfully combine, conspire, and agree with one another, and with persons known and unknown to the Grand Jury, to oppress and intimidate patients and employees of the NFPC in the free exercise and enjoyment of the rights and privileges secured to them by the laws of the United States, namely, the rights to obtain reproductive health services,” according to the indictment.
The blockade, which was live streamed by Gallagher and Curry, was allegedly planned in advance and promoted online, the Daily Signal first reported. Another “uncharged co-conspirator” filmed the incident and said the group was “going over to stand in front of the door” of the clinic and “interpose.”
All eight of the accused allegedly violated the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act by “using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the Sterling Heights clinic's employees and patients” because they believed abortions would be performed there.
Almost a year later in April 2021, the indictment says, Idoni and Edl again allegedly tried to prevent patients and employees from entering an abortion clinic in Saginaw, Mich. The pair was charged in connection with that episode.
The FBI Detroit Field Office and Bay City Resident Agency investigated the case and the Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Michigan are prosecuting the case, the DOJ said.
A number of the pro-life demonstrators, such as Zastrow and Davis, had already been charged by the DOJ in October for a separate March 2021 incident in the Nashville area. Gallagher, the indictment alleges, recruited participants and coordinated travel and logistics on Facebook for a blockade in front of the Carafem Health Center Clinic, in Mount Juliet, Tenn. In a social media post, Gallagher referred to the blockade as a "rescue." That protest was also broadcast by a co-conspirator, Coleman Boyd, who the DOJ did not cite in the Michigan incident.
The DOJ has stated that the escalation of enforcement of the FACE Act has partially been motivated by the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe v. Wade. The Biden administration has made it a matter of urgency to find creative ways to circumvent and undermine the ruling via aggressive executive action against pro-life activists.
On January 30, Mark Houck, a pro-lifer and Catholic father of seven, was acquitted in federal court of charges of violating the FACE Act in connection with two incidents on October 12, 2021 at a Philadelphia abortion clinic. Houck had allegedly pushed an abortion clinic employee during a verbal skirmish. A team of 15 FBI agents made Houck’s arrest in September 2022 by showing up to the family’s home and loudly banging on the door, Houck’s wife told Catholic News Agency at the time.
Houck told podcast host Steve Bannon last month that he plans to consult his lawyers on potentially pressing charges against the FBI agents and state troopers who stormed his house.
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