Four more pro-life activists who were convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and felony conspiracy charges received their sentencing last week for activism at a Tennessee abortion business. These sentences have thus far been much less harsh than the sentences imposed upon pro-lifers convicted of FACE Act and conspiracy charges for activism at a Washington, D.C., abortion facility.
According to The Associated Press (AP), the activists were convicted in January for participating in a 2021 pro-life action at the Carafem abortion business in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. Sentences ranged from six months in prison to three years of supervised release — shorter sentences than prosecutors for the Biden administration’s Department of Justice had requested.
U.S. District Court Judge Aleta Trauger sentenced two of the pro-lifers, Paul Vaughn and Dennis Green, to three years of supervised release. (Live Action News reported more on Vaughn’s story and conviction here.) Coleman Boyd, whom Trauger claimed was the “only one who could afford it,” was sentenced to five years of probation and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine. Calvin Zastrow, whom Trauger considered the organizer of the protest, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by three years of supervised release.
They had faced up to 11 years in prison and fines of up to $260,000. Trauger said she took into account the good work that the defendants had carried out in their communities.
READ: Nashville FACE Act trial against six pro-lifers begins
In addition, another pro-life defendant, Caroline Davis, pleaded guilty last October to misdemeanor charges and cooperated with prosecutors, turning state’s witness. She has testified against fellow participants in FACE Act/conspiracy trials in Washington, D.C and Tennessee and is expected to do so again in an upcoming trial in Michigan. Davis was sentenced in April to three years of probation.
Two remaining activists who took part in the Tennessee activism, Heather Idoni and Chester Gallagher, have had their sentencing for that protest postponed, as they are preparing for an upcoming trial in August on similar charges in Michigan. Idoni is also serving two years for the 2020 protest in Washington, D.C.
Four other activists — concentration camp survivor Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow, and Paul Pace — were found guilty of violating the FACE Act concerning the Tennessee activism, and are scheduled to be sentenced on July 30.
According to CatholicVote, a Mt. Juliet police officer testified during the trial that the pro-life activists were “peaceful and not aggressive.”
Following the fall of Roe v. Wade in June 2022, Tennessee’s pro-life trigger law took effect, protecting preborn children from abortion. The Carafem facility in Mt. Juliet announced shortly afterward that it would be “pausing in-office appointments.”
Editor’s note: This article has been updated for clarification. In addition, it originally states that the defendants faced up to 10 years in prison. This has been corrected.
