The office of Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody released a statement on Thursday revealing the details of a settlement that was reached this month with pro-abortion activists who vandalized and threatened pregnancy resource centers in the state.
Moody pursued civil action against the defendants for both vandalizing and intimidating pregnancy centers in 2022 in violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. According to attorneys with First Liberty Institute and Lawson Huck Gonzalez, PLLC, Moody’s lawsuit was the first instance of a state attorney general using the FACE Act to prosecute pro-abortion assailants of pro-life centers since the fall or Roe v. Wade in June 2022.
“We will not allow radicals to threaten and intimidate women seeking help from crisis pregnancy centers or the counselors and health care professionals serving these women and their babies. In Florida, illegal actions have consequences, and I am proud of the work our attorneys did in this case to make sure these extremists were held accountable,” said Moody.
According to the order, defendants Caleb Freestone, Amber Marie Smith-Stewart, Annarella Rivera, and Gabriella Victoria Oropesa are barred from going within 100 feet of the pregnancy centers they vandalized. In addition, Oropesa must pay $1,000 to each of the three centers that were vandalized and a $10,000 civil penalty.
Freestone, Smith-Steward, and Rivera pleaded guilty and a final damages award will not be determined until the court sentences them in a related criminal case. They face up to 10 years in prison.
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The attacks against three Florida pregnancy centers were first carried out following the leaked release of a draft version of the Supreme Court Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which overturned Roe v. Wade, and then continued after the final Supreme Court decision was released on June 24, 2022.
In May 2022, at least two of the defendants vandalized the South Broward Pregnancy Help Center in Hollywood, Florida, spraying painting, “If abortions aren’t safe then niether [sic] are you.”
In June 2022, the pro-abortion group Jane’s Revenge roused abortion advocates with the words, “[W]e need the state to feel our full wrath … We need them to be afraid of us” and “[W]hoever you are and wherever you are, we are asking for you to do what you can to make your anger known … TO those who work to oppress us: If abortion isn’t safe, you aren’t either. We are everywhere.” That same month, two of the defendants went after LifeChoice pregnancy center in Winter Haven, spraying painting, “YOUR TIME IS UP!!” and “WE’RE COMING FOR YOU.” Then in July 2022, they damaged Heartbeat of Miami Pregnancy Center in Hialeah, spray painting, “If abortions aren’t safe the [sic] neither are you.”
Though FBI Director Christopher Wray told the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday that he doesn’t believe the Biden administration has been targeting pro-life activists but has spent more time prosecuting pro-abortion violence, this is the first instance of abortion advocates being prosecuted for attacks against pro-life organizations under the FACE Act since the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022. Meanwhile, in 2022, 26 pro-lifers were sentenced under the FACE Act. In addition, in 2022, Wray testified that 75% of abortion-related threats and violence since Dobbs have been carried out against pro-lifers.
Editor’s Note 7/29/2024: This article was updated for clarity.
