Pro-life advocate Bevelyn Williams was recently convicted of violating the FACE Act and was sentenced to serve 41 months in federal prison. The protest for which she was prosecuted happened over four years ago, and during the time that has passed since that event, Williams has gotten married and welcomed a child into her family. She is currently a stay-at-home mom and her two-year-old daughter’s primary caregiver.
Williams has a remarkable personal story. After having three abortions – the first at age 15 – her life spiraled out of control, and she was repeatedly arrested. While incarcerated, she had a powerful encounter with another inmate that ultimately resulted in her conversion to Christianity.
According to Williams, it is her faith, shaped by her personal experiences, that drives her pro-life advocacy. During her sentencing hearing on July 24, she shared her story. It provides compelling testimony regarding the resilience which enables the human spirit to transform pain into purpose.
Live Action News has received permission to reprint Williams’ statement. Minor edits have been made for clarity and length.
The abortion was done… except it wasn’t
I grew up in a broken home. I had a challenging life…. After I had my first abortion, it took a toll on me. It was one thing to have sex outside of marriage with a knucklehead young boy, just like me…. But I think the icing on the cake is when I had the abortion. I didn’t want it. It was three months and five days [into my pregnancy], and I didn’t know what to do.
I think at the time my dad was trying to protect me, and so he told me I didn’t have a choice. He said, “You have to go and get an abortion.”… He gave [his girlfriend] an envelope full of money, and then she took me to the clinic….
I laid on the table. They gave me the sonogram. They told me how far along I was, but they wouldn’t let me see. I remember asking, “Can I see?” And they said no.
The next thing I know, I am in the [operating] room, and it’s time. I go to sleep, I wake up, it’s done.
But it wasn’t done…. You can’t cut something out of you without emotional consequences… And for me, that led me down a very, very dark road of depression. I remember my dad would look at me and he would say, “What’s wrong?” And I’d just make up something, because I didn’t want to talk about it.
Then, after the abortion, I found out the guy that I was pregnant by, he got another girl pregnant, [and] I got a disease from the guy….
So, life goes on…. My mom to this day is a narcissist, God bless her. My whole journey in life was having to figure it out on my own. And I always knew there was a God, but I honestly never fully gave my life over to Him.
Jail became a saving grace
Two more abortions later, [I was] living in New York, scamming. That’s a big thing in my family – on my father’s side is a bunch of gangsters, and then on my mother’s side, they scam…. I landed in jail for seven days, and that is when I got my first felony. I got five years’ probation here in New York. I only did three [days in jail] and they let me go.… And then I ended up getting arrested twice [more] for the same thing….
Then, they came knocking on my door for the same thing again… I just got out of Rikers Island, [and] that’s when reality set in. When I was sitting in Rikers Island, I was like, “Oh, girl, I’m not a criminal, this ain’t for me.” So, they come knock on my door, and they take me in again for the same crime….
But I had to be there [in jail]. I met a lady in jail, and this woman, she ministered to me, she spoke to my depression. She told me things that nobody else could know. She knew about the night I came home drunk, and I was in my [bath]room crying… I turned on the water and I just cried, because I was just so miserable internally. And she told me about that night…. When she told me that, I knew that was God speaking through this woman, and I had to make a choice.
And so I did. I gave my life to Christ….
I would have never thought for a second I would be standing in front of an abortion clinic. I was very selfish and very [stuck-up]. I could not see myself yelling and being outside in [the] New York sun all day. I would have never asked for that.
But the Lord just had my heart. He took my heart. It wasn’t a typical come-to-Christ journey. It was really being broken, and being built by God, and living it. It’s one thing to petition for something, but you gotta live it.
“Because I lived it”
There’s a lot of Black young girls like me who don’t have a right avenue, and it seems like the road for wrong is so broad…. I feel like it’s a setup for failure, because my “rights” are protected as a woman to do what I want… even when it’s wrong. But now the consequences that come behind it – which is that [criminal] record that you see – that’s the consequences I pay for my “right” to do what I want to do….
I am loud. I am passionate. But am I violent? No.… I didn’t go [to Planned Parenthood] with intentions to hurt that [employee] or anybody else. There’s bigger fish to fry, as far as I was concerned. I wanted to preach the gospel, and I wanted to use the message that God gave me, because I lived it.
I’m not judging those girls that go in there ready to get an abortion. I know exactly what it’s like. I know what it’s like to be laying with a random guy, you got a baby, and you[‘re] trying to figure out life. I know what it’s like.
But I know God. I know Jesus. And no amount of abortions would have g[iven] me the heart that God gave me. No amount of my “rights” would have blessed me with the family that I have… These people sitting there [in the courtroom], they are my family because of Christ. So many people, of all races, all colors, band around each other, because we love each other…. And my passion, it doesn’t come from wanting to yell at you or bully you. It’s because I’m coming from a place in my heart where I see, and I know.
About that day
[During the protest which led to Williams’ conviction, an abortion facility employee allegedly injured her hand when it got stuck in a door. Read more here.]
In my heart, I would have never wanted that woman’s hand to be hurt. I would have never wanted that. And I’m sorry for that. I am sorry for her hand being locked in the door.
I’m sorry for my background. It’s not fun to see that I am a criminal. That’s not fun to hear. But I have a fear of God in me that goes beyond just this courthouse…. There is so much about myself that I have seen and I have grown into as I have taken on this journey with Christ, and it has humbled me that I had to be this low, that I could never hold my nose up to anybody, because I have been there….
I understand actions come with consequences… and I will respect them. I believe in my heart that any person in a position [of authority] was erected because God put them there. I mean, you may have worked hard – I’m sure you had to – to be in that [judge’s] seat, but it had to be something that God put in you for you to even… desire it in the first place, because He must have had a plan for you to be here today.
So I am trusting you, through God, that whatever sentence you give me is what is needed, and I am going to honor it, and I am going to do what I have to do.
I don’t want to be away from my baby girl. No, I don’t. I love her so much. And she is so special to me, because she was the baby I didn’t kill, you understand? So I want to be there for her… and I want to be there for my husband. After living a life of sin and being promiscuous, I ended up with a husband that loves me…
I ask for mercy… but I will honor the Court, and I will honor you.
Editor’s Note: Williams’ attorney has noted that her sentence of 41 months is unusually lengthy, given the fact that Williams was not convicted of “conspiracy against rights” like pro-lifers sentenced for actions at a D.C. abortion facility. Williams has a GiveSendGo account raising money for her to appeal her sentence, which will take her away from her two-year-old child for three years.
