Three pro-life advocates convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act and conspiracy to violate civil rights were sentenced on July 3 at the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee in Nashville.
The FACE Act prohibits interference with obtaining or providing abortions.
The three defendants are among six found guilty in January of violating the FACE Act during an incident at the Carafem Health Center in Mount Juliet, Tennessee, on March 5, 2021. The entrance to the Carafem Health Center was inside a larger medical building.
Members of the pro-life group stood in the entrance hallway for more than two hours, court papers say. Some were near the door, some in front of the door, and others were down the hall shooting video for social media. They read from the Bible and sang church hymns.
The clinic has since closed after Tennessee outlawed most abortions following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, which overturned Roe v. Wade and returned abortion policy to the states.
Virginia resident Dennis Green, director of Life and Liberty Ministries, was sentenced to six months of home detention and three years probation.
Coleman Boyd, an emergency room doctor who lost his job after the conviction, was sentenced to six months of home detention, five years probation, and given a $10,000 fine.
Calvin Zastrow, a Michigan preacher, was sentenced to six months in prison followed by six months of house arrest, and three years of probation.
In both Mr. Green’s and Mr. Boyd’s cases, the Department of Justice (DOJ) asked for 15 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
The DOJ viewed Mr. Zastrow as having a leadership role in the incident at the Carafem Health Center and asked for 27 months of prison plus three years of supervised release. In his case, the DOJ also considered other alleged FACE Act violations.
“In three instances, in a relatively short period of time, the Defendant refused to comply with lawful orders from police to cease blocking or otherwise leave the premises of a reproductive healthcare facility. He did it in Fort, Myers, Florida, on January 27, 2022, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, on July 13, 2022, and he did it here,” the sentencing memorandum states.
Mr. Zastrow will start his prison sentence for his actions in Tennessee after his Michigan case concludes.
The court received more than 125 letters from supporters, including friends, family, and strangers, urging U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger to be lenient with the defendants. One woman described her own 1973 abortion, the mental anguish she suffered after it, and how she wished there had been someone there to offer her help that day.
Another participant, Paul Vaughn of Tennessee, was sentenced on July 2 to three years of supervised release, including six months of home detention followed by three years of probation.
Two other participants—Heather Idoni of Michigan, who is currently in prison for violating a Washington FACE Act charge; and Chester Gallagher of Tennessee—will be sentenced for the Tennessee incident after their Michigan trial for another alleged FACE Act violation is resolved.
