Pro-life activist seeks to appeal prison sentence for blockading abortion clinic
A pro-life activist who has been sentenced to nearly four years in prison for blockading a New York City abortion clinic is seeking to raise money so she can appeal the decision.
The United States Department of Justice announced in a statement Wednesday that Bevelyn Beatty Williams was sentenced to 41 months in prison for standing at the entrance of a New York City abortion clinic over a two-day period in 2020. The sentencing comes five months after a jury in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York found Williams guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
The federal law, which took effect three decades ago, subjects anyone who “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” seeks to obtain or provide “reproductive health services” to federal charges.
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According to U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, “Bevelyn Beatty Williams repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services. She did so by physically blocking access to clinics, threatening staff, and by force.”
“This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring that patients exercising their legal right to obtain reproductive health services, and healthcare facilities and their staff providing those services, can do so without unlawful interference or fear of threats or violence,” he added. The DOJ elaborated on Williams' actions and how they led to her prison sentence.
The law enforcement agency alleged that on June 19 and June 20, 2020, Williams “threatened and used force against patients and staff members at a reproductive health center located in lower Manhattan (the ‘Health Center’) and blocked patients and staff members from accessing the Health Center.”
The DOJ maintained that “In one instance, and as captured on video, Williams pressed her body against the door of the Health Center’s patient entrance and refused to move, preventing a Health Center volunteer from entering the Health Center.”
“As a Health Center staff member (‘Victim-1’) attempted to open the door for the volunteer, Williams purposefully leaned against the door, crushing Victim-1’s hand. Victim-1 yelled, ‘She’s crushing my hand,’ but Williams remained against the door, trapping Victim-1’s hand and injuring it,” the DOJ asserted. “At various times on June 19 and 20, 2020, Williams stood directly in front of the Health Center entrances.”
It continued, “Williams initially blocked the main entrance used by patients, causing the Health Center to have to divert patients to enter through the staff entrance. Williams responded by moving to block the staff entrance and directing others to do the same.”
The DOJ also expressed concern about comments made by Williams during the blockade, specifically her vow to “terrorize this place,” by using “any means necessary,” and bringing up the prospect of “war” and insistence that “your business is gonna be over.”
For her part, Williams has signaled her intention to appeal her sentence. She has set up a GiveSendGo fundraiser seeking to raise $250,000 in support of a “fight for freedom,” noting that she has 60 days to appeal. Williams contends that “I was persecuted as a Christian standing for my beliefs when it comes to life.”
“This is devastating news,” she wrote. “Not only is this bond extensive for the accused crime, but [Judge Jennifer Rochan] made it very clear in the courtroom that she was going to [make an] example out of me. The concern of being a young mother, and a stay-at-home mother, was completely disregarded. She told me before sentencing that I was young and that I would not be defined by my sentence, before making a conscious decision to take me away from my 2-year-old daughter for three years.”
As of Monday morning, Williams’ fundraiser has raised just over $49,000. Williams reflected on her “challenging journey” in a Facebook post unveiling the GiveSendGo fundraiser Thursday: “In times like these, I am reminded of the strength that comes from our faith in Christ and the importance of standing firm against injustice.”
Describing the “severe persecution” she has faced for “standing up for the unborn” as “unjust” and “harsh,” Williams lamented that her sentence was a “blatant attack on my beliefs and rights as a mother and wife” that was “designed to discourage others from following a similar path.” She declared that “I believe that now, more than ever, we must unite as a Christian community to defend our freedoms.”
Williams said she intends to use the money raised from the fundraiser to hire “a skilled lawyer and assembling a team to fight for justice and uphold our religious liberties.” She encouraged supporters to “join me in prayer and action as we seek to petition Heaven and stand boldly for righteousness.”
Pro-life activists have called for the U.S. Congress to repeal the FACE Act, which they classify as part of an effort to chill pro-life activism.
Randall Terry, founder of the pro-life advocacy group Operation Rescue and the Constitution Party’s 2024 presidential nominee, told The Christian Post in a recent interview that “between 1987 and 1994, we accumulated over 75,000 arrests around the country for peacefully blockading abortion clinics,” much like what Williams tried to do in New York City four years ago.
“We would sit there, 100, 200, 500 people and not let anyone in,” he recalled. “We closed them for the whole day and saved the babies that were scheduled to die that day.”
While participants in abortion clinic blockades previously found themselves subject to “local trespass charges,” they wound up “facing a federal misdemeanor for the first offense and a federal felony for the second offense” after the FACE Act was passed.
Terry expressed disappointment that “once that law was passed, it effectively broke the back of our movement,” detailing how then-Attorney General Janet Reno identified working to “break the back of Operation Rescue” as “one of her top priorities.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: [email protected]
