Three pro-life activists have recently been sentenced for participating in an abortion clinic protest that took place in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, back in 2021. Eva Zastrow (24), James Zastrow (25), and Paul Place (24) were given three years of probation by the federal court, with a home detention requirement for the first 90 days. Alongside these three activists, an eighty-seven-year-old concentration camp survivor, Eva Edl, was convicted in April of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act during the protest at the Carafem Health Center Clinic. The FACE Act aims to protect reproductive health care services from threats of force and property damage.
All 11 people involved in the protest have been convicted, with charges being announced by Joe Biden’s pro-abortion administration in October 2022. The activists were conducting a “rescue” operation during the peaceful protest, which also included praying, singing hymns, and encouraging women to not go through with abortions. The protest was live-streamed on Facebook.
Following the Supreme Court’s ruling outlawing abortion in Tennessee, the clinic has temporarily halted in-person care. Six activists were found guilty in January of a misdemeanor FACE Act charge and a felony conspiracy against rights charge, which could have resulted in up to 11 years in prison and fines reaching $250,000. However, the sentences varied for these six individuals, ranging from three years of supervised release to a six-month prison sentence followed by three years of probation for Calvin Zastrow, one of the main organizers.
Three other activists are awaiting their sentencing in August, while another activist has pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, receiving a three-year probation sentence. The Department of Justice has charged more pro-life activists under the FACE Act since the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision than those supporting abortion, despite FBI Director Christopher Wray admitting that around 70% of abortion-related threats of violence have been against pro-life groups.
Representative Chip Roy introduced legislation in September 2023 to repeal the FACE Act, stating that the law was intended to protect abortion facilities but has since been used by the Biden administration to target pro-life activists. Former President Donald Trump also pledged to create a task force to review and potentially pardon or commute the sentences of every “political prisoner” unjustly persecuted by the Biden administration if he is reelected in 2024.