Three pro-life activists were sentenced on July 30 for violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act due to their role in the blockade of a Tennessee abortion business in 2021.
According to ABC News, James Zastrow, Eva Zastrow, and Paul Place were all sentenced to 90 days home detention followed by three years probation. The trio were involved in an incident in which they peacefully protested by sitting in front of the main door of a Carafem abortion facility in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, in 2021. They were convicted of a criminal violation against the FACE Act in April and had faced up to a maximum of six months in prison.
According to an April Department of Justice release, none of those charged during the incident behaved aggressively.
“The defendants and others filled the interior hallway to the clinic,” the press release said. “These defendants positioned themselves directly in front of the main clinic door for over two hours, physically blocking access to the clinic, resulting in no patients accessing the clinic. Police requested that the defendants leave or move multiple times, but after more than two hours, these defendants were arrested.”
Pro-lifer Paul Vaughn, who participated in the same pro-life action, was sentenced on July 2 to three years supervised release with no prison time. At the time, his attorney stated, “The weaponized and evidence-free charges brought here by the Biden Department of Justice against peaceful pro-lifers should have never been filed.… We will continue to advocate tirelessly for pro-lifers like Paul, to make sure that the FACE Act is never again weaponized by the Department of Justice against its ideological opponents.”
In all, 11 people were charged for participating in the incident, including six who were also found guilty of felony conspiracy charges in addition to FACE Act violations for their roles in organizing the protest. Four of those six were already sentenced, with just one receiving jail time. The other two, Heather Idoni and Chester Gallagher, have had their sentencing postponed as they are also undergoing a trial in Michigan this month for similar charges.
Sentencing for Eva Edl, an 89-year-old pro-life activist and concentration camp survivor who was also convicted of a FACE Act violation for the same protest, has been delayed until later in August.
Altogether, the sentences for the individuals involved in this incident have been far less severe than the sentences imposed upon pro-lifers convicted of FACE Act and conspiracy charges for activism at a Washington, D.C., abortion facility.
