Bevelyn Williams / Truth & Liberty Coalition (Left)
CV NEWS FEED // Live Action this week published the statement of a young mother and pro-life activist sentenced to three years in prison on Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act charges.
Live Action reported that Bevelyn Williams’ sentencing hearing took place July 24, where Williams shared her story of converting to Christianity and becoming a pro-life advocate.
As CatholicVote previously reported, Williams was found guilty of violating the controversial FACE Act after she blocked an abortion clinic in 2020. Live Action reported that Williams is currently a stay-at-home mom caring for her two-year-old daughter.
At the sentencing hearing, Williams shared that before becoming pro-life, she had had three abortions, the first at age 15. After the first abortion, she said, she was “led… down a very, very dark road of depression.”
She explained that after the third abortion, she was living in New York and was involved in scamming. Williams explained that during this time, she was arrested multiple times, had served several days in jail, and also received multiple years of probation.
A turning point was when “reality set in” after she had to return to Rikers Island again after having recently gotten out, Williams explained. Also during this time in prison, Williams encountered a woman in the jail, who she said “ministered to” her and “spoke to” her depression.
This woman told Williams “things that nobody else could know” about Williams’ personal story. “When she told me that, I knew that was God speaking through this woman, and I had to make a choice,” Williams said. “And so I did. I gave my life to Christ….”
Live Action previously reported that during the pro-life protest Williams participated in, “a staff member’s hand was allegedly caught in a door, which government prosecutors portrayed as an intentional act on Williams’ part.”
Williams addressed this injury during her statement at the hearing.
“I am loud. I am passionate. But am I violent? No.… I didn’t go [to Planned Parenthood] with intentions to hurt that [employee] or anybody else,” Williams said. “There’s bigger fish to fry, as far as I was concerned. I wanted to preach the gospel, and I wanted to use the message that God gave me, because I lived it.”
She added that she does not judge the girls who go into abortion clinics, but urged, “no amount of abortions would have g[iven] me the heart that God gave me. No amount of my ‘rights’ would have blessed me with the family that I have…”
Reflecting on the employee’s hand injury, Williams said, “In my heart, I would have never wanted that woman’s hand to be hurt… And I’m sorry for that. I am sorry for her hand being locked in the door.”
She also apologized for her background as a criminal, and later reflected on her “journey with Christ,” saying, “it has humbled me that I had to be this low, that I could never hold my nose up to anybody, because I have been there….”
Williams added that she will respect the consequences of her actions, and said she will honor the sentence given.
She also reflected on how the sentencing will separate her from her husband and daughter.
“I don’t want to be away from my baby girl. No, I don’t. I love her so much,” Williams said, concluding:
And she is so special to me, because she was the baby I didn’t kill, you understand? So I want to be there for her… and I want to be there for my husband. After living a life of sin and being promiscuous, I ended up with a husband that loves me…
I ask for mercy… but I will honor the Court, and I will honor you.
