Activist Convicted of Federal Charges Over Anti-Abortion Protest Plans to Appeal
The father of eleven is one of several pro-life activists that have been hit with FACE charges in the wake of the overturn of Roe v. Wade
A father of eleven and dedicated advocate for the unborn who was arrested at gunpoint in front of his children last year has been convicted of charges carrying a sentence of up to ten years in prison.
Paul Vaughn of Centerville, Tennessee is one of six non-violent activists slammed with federal charges over a “rescue” operation conducted at a Mt. Juliet abortion mill in 2021.
LifeSiteNews reports that Chester Gallagher of Lebanon, Tennessee; Heather Idoni and Calvin Zastrow of Michigan; Coleman Boyd of Bolton, Mississippi, and Dennis Green of Cumberland, Virginia were convicted of Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act charges last week.
The activists were arrested and charged after they entered and sat in the clinic praying and singing hymns. Then 87-year-old concentration camp survivor Eva Edl was among those arrested over the peaceful demonstration.
Attorneys for Vaughn plan to appeal the conviction, as an attorney for the Thomas More Society said in a statement.
“We are, of course, disappointed with the outcome,” Steve Crampton, Thomas More Society Senior Counsel, said. “This was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens—filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship—oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies. Unfortunately, the Biden Department of Justice decided to characterize Paul Vaughn’s peaceful actions as a felony ‘conspiracy against rights,’ to intimidate and punish Paul and other pro-life people and people of faith.”