Five pro-life activists had been discovered responsible in a federal courtroom in Washington, D.C., Tuesday of felony civil rights conspiracy costs and violations of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act following an October 2020 “invasion” of a D.C. abortion clinic.

Defendants Lauren Handy, 28, of Alexandria; John Hinshaw, 67, of Levittown, New York; Heather Idoni, 61, of Linden, Michigan; William Goodman, 52, of New York City; and Herb Geraghty, 25, of Pittsburgh had been every jailed instantly due to the FACE Act convictions, a Justice Department assertion mentioned.

The 5 had been convicted on costs associated to what the DOJ known as an “invasion” of the Washington Surgi-Clinic reproductive well being clinic. Some individuals got here to the District “from various northeast and midwestern states,” the division mentioned, as a part of the conspiracy. The company mentioned the blockade was additionally livestreamed on Facebook.

Critics have slammed the clinic as a “late-term abortion facility.”

Ms. Hardy and her co-defendants had been a part of the Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising (PAAU), a pro-life group famous for protesting close to District abortion services. Four remaining defendants — Jonathan Darnel, 40, of Arlington; Paulette Harlow, 73, of Kingston, Massachusetts; Jean Marshall, 72, additionally of Kingston; and Joan Bell, 74, of Montague, New Jersey — are anticipated to face trial on the identical costs starting Sept. 6.

A tenth defendant, Jay Smith, 32, of Freeport, New York, pleaded responsible in March to a felony FACE Act violation associated to the identical incident, the Justice Department mentioned. Details of his sentence weren't instantly obtainable.

“This trial has been a sham with a completely biased pro-abortion judge who has made a mockery of our justice system,” Live Action founder Lila Rose mentioned Tuesday. “These activists are heroes, and the Department of Justice has acted capriciously and illegitimately.”

Attorney Martin Cannon, a senior counsel on the Thomas More Society and Ms. Handy’s legal professional mentioned in an announcement that the authorized staff is “preparing an appeal.” 

He blasted the Biden administration DOJ as “intent on prosecuting those who decry abortion and present it as it is.”

The 5 activists convicted Tuesday face as a lot as 11 years in jail, three years of supervised launch, and fines of as much as $350,000 apiece. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly, appointed to the federal bench in 1997 by then-President Bill Clinton, will schedule sentencing later.

Ms. Rose of Live Action slammed Judge Kollar-Kotelly for suggesting “that the 13th Amendment to the Constitution’s ban on ‘involuntary servitude’ may confer a right to abortion,” which she mentioned compares “the beauty of pregnancy and motherhood with the horror of slavery.”

While pro-life activists decried the decision on-line, main organizations within the pro-abortion camp had been silent instantly following the decision. 

A search of accounts of Planned Parenthood, its political motion committee and NARAL Pro-Choice America on X, previously referred to as Twitter, in addition to the teams’ net pages, confirmed no reactions to the convictions.

The Washington Times contacted each NARAL and Planned Parenthood for remark.

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