An Arkansan was among those charged in a federal indictment with blocking a Tennessee reproductive health care clinic in a 2021 anti-abortion protest.

Eleven were indicted for violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits interference with reproductive health care services.

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Seven were charged with conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act and committing FACE Act violations, punishable by up to 11 years in prison. They were: Chester Gallagher, 73, of Lebanon, Tenn.; Paul Vaughn, 55, of Centerville, Tenn.; Heather Idoni, 58, of Michigan; Calvin Zastrow, 57, of Michigan; Caroline Davis, 24, of Michigan; Coleman Boyd, 51, of Bolton, Miss., and Dennis Green, 56, of Cumberland, Va.

Charged with misdemeanor FACE Act violations, punishable by up to a year in prison,  were Eva Edl, 87, of Aiken S.C., Eva Zastrow, 24, of Dover, Ark., James Zastrow, 25, of Eldon, Mo., and Paul Place, 24, of Centerville, Tenn.

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From a Justice Department news release:

The indictment alleges that, beginning in February 2021, Gallagher utilized social media to promote a series of anti-abortion events scheduled for March 4-7, 2021, in the Nashville area. Other co-conspirators then utilized Facebook to coordinate travel and logistics and to identify other participants for the blockade. On March 4, 2021, Boyd and Gallagher advertised the blockade of the Carafem Health Center Clinic, in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, which was planned for the following day. In his social media post, Gallagher referred to the blockade as a “rescue.” Boyd also began a Facebook livestream broadcast of the clinic blockade at 7:45 a.m. on March 5, 2021. This livestream broadcast was titled, in part, “Mount Juliet, Tennessee, Rescue March 5, 2021,” and livestreamed the blockade event as his coconspirators and others blocked the clinic’s entry doors and prevented a patient and an employee from entering. The livestream also broadcast members of the group attempting to engage a patient and her companion as Boyd told his livestream audience that the patient was a “mom coming to kill her baby.”

The indictment further alleges that on March 5, 2021, the 11 individuals, aided and abetted by one another, used force and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services.

The indictment also alleges that all 11 defendants violated the FACE Act by using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because the clinic was providing, and the patient sought reproductive health services. All defendants will have appearances scheduled in U.S. District Court in Nashville at a later date.

 

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I was alerted to this arrest by tweets from people I follow in response to Sen. Ted Cruz lamenting that the U.S. Justice Department had enforced a law passed by Congress.

 

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A postscript from the clinic’s website:

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Due to Tennessee’s abortion ban, carafem’s Mt. Juliet health center will no longer provide procedural abortion or abortion pills effective August 25, 2022. carafem’s doors will remain open and in compliance with state law offering a wide range of services including affordable birth control options, STI testing and treatment, pregnancy testing and ultrasound for pregnancy dating.

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