The Eastern District of Michigan branch of the DOJ just announced that it will be prosecuting eight pro-life protesters that dared to express their opposition to the abortion regime outside a Sterling Heights, Michigan abortion clinic.
Announcing the charges, the Eastern District of Michigan DOJ named those who it’s charging and what they’re charged with doing, saying:
According to court documents, Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl and Eva Zastrow are charged with engaging in a civil rights conspiracy and with violating the FACE Act in connection with an August 2020 blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan. In addition, Idoni and Edl were also charged with violating the FACE Act in connection with an April 2021 blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Saginaw, Michigan.
The announcement then went on to describe what the eight protesters are accused of doing during their protest that made it illegal under the FACE Act, saying:
“The indictment returned by a federal grand jury alleges that on Aug. 27, 2020, all eight defendants engaged in a conspiracy to prevent the Sterling Heights clinic from providing, and patients there from receiving, reproductive health services. According to the indictment, Gallagher advertised the Sterling Heights clinic blockade on social media, and he and Curry livestreamed the incident. The defendants convened at a location near the Sterling Heights clinic, where an uncharged co-conspirator who recorded the incident announced that the defendants were “going over to stand in front of the door” and “interpose.”
The indictment also alleges that all eight defendants violated the FACE Act by using physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with the Sterling Heights clinic’s employees and patients, because the clinic’s employees were providing, and the patients were seeking, reproductive health services.
It also notes that two of the suspects are accused of doing much the same thing during a different incident, saying:
The indictment further alleges that on April 16, 2021, Idoni and Edl again used physical obstruction to intimidate and interfere with patients and employees of the Saginaw clinic because the clinic’s employees were providing, and patients were seeking, reproductive health services.
The Eastern District of Michigan DOJ will be prosecuting the pro-life protesters alongside Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
This new attempt to lock up anti-abortion, pro-life protesters comes under a month after Mark Houck was acquitted by a jury in Philadelphia for similar charges. Mr. Houck was charged with FACE Act violations in connection with a protest outside an abortion clinic in 2021. A Planned Parenthood escort allegedly was threatening Mr. Houck’s child, so Mr. Houck intervened and pushed the escort. The DOJ tried prosecuting him for that.
Rep. Chip Roy, speaking about Mr. Houck’s legal battle in a statement to Fox News Digital, said “Justice has been served, but this brazen exercise in intimidation never should have happened. Mark Houck and his eight children never should have been forced to live through an FBI raid or see their father led away in handcuffs.“