{"id":1703453,"date":"2022-10-20T06:30:10","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T10:30:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1703453"},"modified":"2022-10-20T10:34:06","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T14:34:06","slug":"the-fbi-has-indicted-22-pro-life-protesters-and-zero-pregnancy-center-firebombers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/the-fbi-has-indicted-22-pro-life-protesters-and-zero-pregnancy-center-firebombers\/","title":{"rendered":"The FBI Has Indicted 22 Pro-Life Protesters and Zero Pregnancy Center Firebombers"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">24<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fthe-fbi-has-indicted-22-pro-life-protesters-and-zero-pregnancy-center-firebombers%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1703453&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-2022-10-18T171200.456.png\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" alt=\"image\" \/><\/div>\n<p>The Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/pennsylvania-man-indicted-freedom-access-clinic-entrances-act-and-conspiracy-against-rights\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> the indictment of pro-life activist Herb Geraghty on Oct. 14, bringing the number of apparently nonviolent pro-life protesters targeted under the FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act by President Joe Biden\u2019s DOJ this year to 22. Meanwhile, the agency has yet to announce a single arrest or indictment against any of the vandals or arsonists who terrorized and firebombed crisis pregnancy centers after the leak of the Supreme Court\u2019s <em>Dobbs v. Jackson<\/em> decision overturning <em>Roe v. Wade<\/em>. <\/p>\n<p>Geraghty, a 25-year-old from Pittsburgh, is accused of participating in a \u201creproductive health care clinic blockade in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22, 2020.\u201d Along with nine other defendants, the DOJ alleges, Geraghty \u201cforcefully entered the [abortion facility] and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains and ropes.\u201d In March, the FBI <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/nine-defendants-indicted-federal-civil-rights-conspiracy-and-freedom-access-clinic-entrances\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> indictments against the other nine: \u201cLauren Handy, 28, of Alexandria, Virginia; Jonathan Darnel, 40, of Arlington, Virginia, Jay Smith, 32, of Freeport, New York; Paulette Harlow, 73, of Kingston, Massachusetts; Jean Marshall, 72, of Kingston, Massachusetts; John Hinshaw, 67, of Levittown, New York; Heather Idoni, 61, of Linden, Michigan; William Goodman, 52, of the Bronx, New York; and Joan Bell, 74, of Montague, New Jersey.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe indictment also alleges that all 10 defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic\u2019s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services,\u201d the DOJ continued in its recent press release. <\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifesitenews.com\/news\/pro-lifers-raided-charged-and-face-11-years-in-jail-for-blocking-access-to-infamous-dc-abortion-mill\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">description<\/a> of the demonstration by LifeSiteNews, however, paints a far less charged picture:<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n<p>Once inside, the rescuers sought to offer help to families who were seeking abortion, counselling them to change their minds about aborting their babies, praying with them, and informing them about local resource centers. Rescuers blocked the abortion facility\u2019s entrances and stationed themselves around the complex to physically prevent access to the building.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The protest very well may have violated trespassing restrictions, as well as provisions of the FACE Act, which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/18\/248\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">criminalizes<\/a> \u201cattempts to \u2026 interfere with\u201d a person for \u201cobtaining or providing reproductive health services.\u201d The law was passed in 1994 and designed to crack down on attempted bombings or arson of abortion offices. The DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/crt\/protecting-patients-and-health-care-providers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">claims<\/a>, \u201cThe FACE Act is not about abortions [but] protects all patients, providers, and facilities that provide reproductive health services, including pro-life pregnancy counseling services.\u201d But under Biden\u2019s Justice Department, it might as well limit its protections to abortion facilities. Furthermore, if the overbroad law can be stretched by corrupt G-men to prosecute peaceful Americans exercising their First Amendment rights \u2014 as the Garland DOJ has since stretched it \u2014 Congress should repeal it.<\/p>\n<p>In a just world, federal law wouldn\u2019t exist to protect the practice of killing babies in their mothers\u2019 wombs. But since it does, it appears the FBI made an easy example out of Geraghty and the nine other participants who were indicted in March of this year. If convicted, they face \u201cup to a maximum of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $260,000,\u201d even though their alleged crimes pale in comparison to the devastation wrought by abortion activists shattering windows and pitching Molotov cocktails into pro-life pregnancy resource centers.<\/p>\n<p>Since the roundup of nine pro-lifers who participated in the D.C. protest, the FBI has made similar arrests of pro-life protesters whose alleged crimes are far less clear \u2014 indicating that the weaponized agency is becoming more emboldened in its crackdown on opponents of the administration\u2019s radical pro-abortion stance.<\/p>\n<p>On Sept. 23, some 20 to 30 armed FBI agents with more than a dozen vehicles <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/09\/26\/fbi-raids-pro-lifers-home-arrests-him-in-front-of-his-kids-after-ignoring-pro-abortion-terrorism\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">swarmed<\/a> Catholic pro-life activist and author Mark Houck\u2019s Pennsylvania home and arrested him in front of his children, according to Houck\u2019s wife Ryan-Marie. Houck is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/pennsylvania-man-indicted-assaulting-reproductive-health-care-provider\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">accused<\/a> of \u201cattacking a patient escort\u201d named Bruce Love at a Planned Parenthood facility in violation of the FACE Act. But Ryan-Marie says her husband only \u201cshoved him away from his child\u201d after Love refused to stop verbally harassing their 12-year-old son and \u201ccame into [the son\u2019s] personal space.\u201d Furthermore, as The Federalist\u2019s Senior Legal Correspondent Margot Cleveland reported: <\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote\">\n[A]s a matter of law, the facts of the private criminal complaint sworn out by Love do not constitute a violation of the FACE Act because Houck was standing at a corner away from the abortion facility, no clients were involved, and the alleged assault had nothing to do with so-called reproductive services. And that conclusion flows from Love\u2019s version of the facts, ignoring Houck\u2019s allegation that Love was harassing his 12-year-old son.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The case against Mark was thrown out of the district court in Philadelphia earlier this year, LifeSiteNews reported, but the FBI picked it up as the federal agency continues to wage war on the administration\u2019s political opponents. Houck faces \u201ca maximum possible sentence of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000\u201d if convicted.<\/p>\n<p>On Oct. 5, the DOJ <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/opa\/pr\/eleven-defendants-indicted-obstructing-reproductive-health-services-facility-tennessee\">unsealed<\/a> another indictment against \u201cChester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Caroline Davis, Paul Vaughn, Dennis Green, Eva Edl, Eva Zastrow, James Zastrow and Paul Place\u201d for \u201can alleged reproductive health care clinic blockade in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021.\u201d They are accused of using \u201cforce and physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with employees of the clinic and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services,\u201d and face prison time and fines if convicted.<\/p>\n<p>The FBI conducted an armed raid on Gallagher\u2019s home on the same day, entering his home and questioning his neighbors when agents realized Gallagher was out of town. As The Federalist\u2019s Evita Duffy <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/06\/fbi-raids-another-pro-lifers-home-in-federal-prosecution-against-11-peaceful-opponents-of-state-sponsored-child-killings\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">noted<\/a>, far from using violence, the 11 peaceful protesters \u201clined the inside hallway of a medical building that houses multiple offices, including the Carafem abortion facility, and peacefully tried to convince mothers seeking an abortion to choose life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As the FBI targets pro-lifers with less and less evidence of even superficial crimes, what has it done to hold accountable the pro-abortion terrorists who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lifenews.com\/2022\/06\/07\/abortion-activists-firebomb-pro-life-pregnancy-center-third-bombing-in-weeks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">firebombed<\/a> numerous pro-life organizations and pregnancy resource centers after the Supreme Court removed its prohibition on state abortion bans? Apparently nothing.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<span class=\"AjUKts9gy1ioVM6Z\"><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Gresham, OR: A pregnancy resource center in a Portland suburb was damaged in a fire on June 11 believed to be started by an explosive device. The fire is being investigated by local police, FBI &#038; ATF. Portland <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Antifa?src=hash&#038;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Antifa<\/a> posted addresses &#038; called for attacks. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TthaC61XCL\">https:\/\/t.co\/TthaC61XCL<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Mb6Hb3u70O\">pic.twitter.com\/Mb6Hb3u70O<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Andy Ng\u00f4 \ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08 (@MrAndyNgo) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MrAndyNgo\/status\/1536204663888003073?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>A Federalist review of Justice Department press releases in 2022 revealed not a single announcement of the arrest or indictment of a pregnancy center arsonist. It took the FBI 44 days after the <em>Dobbs<\/em> opinion leaked to even <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/06\/17\/a-month-and-a-half-after-dobbs-leak-fbi-says-they-will-investigate-attacks-on-pro-life-groups-pregnancy-centers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">acknowledge<\/a> it was investigating incidents of violence against pro-life groups. As The Federalist\u2019s Jordan Boyd <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2022\/10\/06\/if-peacefully-protesting-abortion-is-criminal-but-firebombing-pregnancy-centers-is-not-there-is-no-rule-of-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">concluded<\/a> earlier this month, \u201cthe arrest of peaceful pro-lifers but not of violent pro-abortionists confirms Biden\u2019s DOJ does not equally apply the law.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Asked on Tuesday if \u201cthe FBI has made any arrests related to the vandalism, firebombing, etc. of dozens of pregnancy resource centers and churches around the country since the leak of the Supreme Court\u2019s <em>Dobbs v. Jackson<\/em> decision?\u201d the FBI refused to comment. The FBI also declined to answer whether any individuals had been indicted, or if the FBI had conducted any raids on potential suspects such as those used to target pro-life activists Mark Houck and Chester Gallagher; the agency directed The Federalist to the DOJ for indictment inquiries. The DOJ did not respond.<\/p>\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator\" \/>\n<p>\n  Elle Purnell is an assistant editor at The Federalist, and received her B.A. in government from Patrick Henry College with a minor in journalism. Follow her work on Twitter @_etreynolds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Department of Justice under Attorney General Merrick Garland announced the indictment of pro-life activist Herb Geraghty on Oct. 14, bringing the number of apparently nonviolent pro-life protesters targeted under<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1703456,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[547],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1703453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-bongino-report"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1703453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1703453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1703456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1703453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1703453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1703453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}