CV NEWS FEED // The Biden administration’s Department of Justice has come under fire for prosecuting and convicting numerous pro-life activists under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. But in the latest case, the administration convicted a group of six pro-lifers for violating the Act and the Conspiracy Against Rights statute – also known as the KKK Act.
The pro-life activists were convicted on January 30 for obstructing the entrance to an abortion facility located just outside of Nashville. What happened, what are the laws, and what does this decision mean for pro-life advocates?
The Facts
Chet Gallagher, Coleman Boyd, Heather Idoni, Cal Zastrow, Paul Vaughn, and Dennis Green attended a sit-in at the Carafem Health Center in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee. The group was also composed of 14 other participants. They sang hymns, prayed, and talked with women about the sanctity of life.
After two hours, authorities asked the group to leave. They declined to follow instructions, as they felt they were doing nothing illegal and only engaging in peaceful life-affirming activism.
Only 11 participants were arrested and only six were charged with violations of the FACE Act in conjunction with the KKK Act. The DOJ stated that the pro-life activists “each face up to a maximum of 10 and a half years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $260,000.”
The Laws
Commonly referred to as the KKK Act, the Conspiracy Against Rights provision was originally intended to help protect the civil rights of African Americans and protect them against intimidation and infringement of their voting rights. However, since its passage in 1870, the law has evolved and been applied to more than just voter intimidation.
The “KKK Act” makes
it unlawful for two or more persons to agree to injure, threaten, or intimidate a person in the United States in the free exercise or enjoyment of any right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States or because of his or her having exercised such a right.
Unlike most conspiracy statutes, §241 does not require, as an element, the commission of an overt act.
The offense is always a felony, even if the underlying conduct would not, on its own, establish a felony violation of another criminal civil rights statute. “
The FACE Act is a provision of the Civil Rights Act and was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. By itself, the FACE Act would have only resulted in the six activists being convicted of misdemeanor offenses.
The Face Act makes it a felony when anyone:
By force or threat of force or by physical obstruction, intentionally injures, intimidates or interferes with or attempts to injure, intimidate or interfere with any person because that person is or has been, or in order to intimidate such person or any other person or any class of persons from, obtaining or providing reproductive health services
Applying the KKK Act to the pro-life activists implies that they were attempting to infringe upon a “right or privilege secured by the Constitution or laws of the United States.”
However, under Dobbs v. Jackson, the Supreme Court decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, elective abortion is not a legal or constitutional “right.”
Unequal Application of the Law?
During a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting in March of 2023, Attorney General Merrick Garland admitted that the DOJ was engaging in unequal application of the law.
“I will say, you are quite right: there are many more prosecutions concerning blocking of the abortion centers,” he said. “But that is generally because those actions are taken with photography at the time, during the daylight, and seeing the person who did it is quite easy.”
