Woman arrested for threatening to kill judge presiding over abortion pill case

A Florida woman has been indicted for threatening to kill U.S District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk, who presided over a case regarding the abortion pill.

According to the Associated Press, Alice Marie Pence was arrested and indicted, and is charged with transmitting a threatening interstate communication and influencing a federal official by threat. According to the indictment, Pence called the chambers of “a federal judge in Amarillo, Texas” and threatened to kill him. Though Kacsmaryk was not named, he is the only federal judge in Amarillo.

The call took place in March, around the time Kacsmaryk held a hearing regarding mifepristone, during which he said he had received death threats. He had been responding to criticism over not making the hearing public.

“To minimize some of the unnecessary death threats and voicemails and harassment that this division has received from the start of the case, we’re going to post that later in the day. So it may even be after business hours, but that will be publicly filed,” he said during a conference call with attorneys at the time. “Other elements of this case have brought a barrage of death threats and protesters and the rest. I don’t want that to disrupt your presentation to the court.” He further added, “This is not a gag order but just a request for courtesy given the death threats and harassing phone calls and voicemails that this division has received. We want a fluid hearing with all parties being heard. I think less advertisement of this hearing is better.”

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Several weeks later, in April, Kacsmaryk ruled that the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, or the abortion pill, should be revoked. Mifepristone is the first pill in the abortion pill regimen, and was approved by the FDA in 2000. In anticipation of Kacsmaryk’s ruling, many abortionists said they would transition to misoprostol-only abortions, even though it has a higher failure rate.

During a chemical abortion, the woman first takes mifepristone, which blocks progesterone — effectively starving the preborn child of oxygen and nutrients. Next, she takes misoprostol, which induces contractions to expel the body of her dead baby.

Pence’s next hearing is on November 22nd.