Four pro-life activists are currently in federal court in Nashville for sentencing following their convictions for violations of the FACE Act.
Pro-life activist Paul Vaughn, who was found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, received his sentence on Tuesday in Nashville, Tennessee. He was sentenced to three years of supervised release, including six months of home detention, thus avoiding prison time.
The Department of Justice had originally requested a sentence of one year and a day in prison for Vaughn, arguing in a sentencing memo that encounters with pro-life activists were traumatic for patients, and anything less than a year would not adequately address the seriousness of the offense.
Vaughn was one of six individuals convicted in January for violating the FACE Act at an abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021. The clinic has since closed, and the FACE Act prohibits interference with obtaining or providing abortions.
Steve Crampton, Senior Counsel at the Thomas More Society and Vaughn’s attorney, expressed satisfaction that the judge showed leniency in the sentencing. However, he maintained that the conviction was still unjust.
In addition to Vaughn, three other participants in the case are scheduled for sentencing on July 3: Calvin Zastrow, a preacher from Michigan; Denny Green, director of Life and Liberty Ministries from Virginia; and Coleman Boyd, an emergency room doctor and father of 13 who lost his job following the conviction in Tennessee.
The group had gathered outside the abortion clinic, reading from the Bible, singing hymns, and engaging with women. While some participants blocked the business’s door, Vaughn was further down the hallway, away from the entrance.
Crampton described the event as a peaceful demonstration aimed at persuading expecting mothers not to undergo abortions. He emphasized that the charges against Vaughn and his co-defendants should never have been filed.
Following the Supreme Court’s Dobbs Decision on June 24, 2022, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states, there has been a rise in FACE Act charges. President Biden subsequently issued an executive order on July 8, 2022, directing his administration to address the increased risk of obtaining an abortion. This led to the formation of the Reproductive Rights Task Force, focusing on enforcing the FACE Act.
The Carafem Health Center in Mount Juliet paused its in-person services due to Tennessee’s ban on abortion, and on August 25, 2022, Tennessee made abortion illegal with rare exceptions. The defendants in this case were charged after the abortions they were trying to prevent were essentially outlawed, and the clinic they were near had closed.
Attorneys from the Thomas More Society are preparing an appeal to challenge Vaughn’s conviction and the constitutionality of the FACE Act. Former President Donald Trump pledged to free imprisoned pro-life activists if re-elected during the Faith and Freedom Coalition event in Washington, D.C. Please rewrite the following sentence:
“The cat gracefully leaped over the fence.”
“The feline elegantly jumped over the barrier.”
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