Posted on 08/03/2024 10:12:11 AM PDT by Morgana
Another pro-life activist has been sentenced to time in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Sixty-eight-year-old Steven Lefemine of South Carolina was sentenced to 60 days in jail and was fined $1,000 after he was found guilty in March of blocking the entrance of a Planned Parenthood abortion facility on November 15, 2022. He will not be placed on probation. A video played during his trial showed Lefemine refusing to move unless the clinic workers agreed “not to kill babies today.”
Though he was originally arrested by local law enforcement, convicted for trespassing by U.S. District Court Judge Joe Anderson, and fined $465, federal authorities indicted him on the additional FACE Act charges in February of 2023. This arrest is the ninth time Lefemine has been found guilty of either trespassing or disorderly conduct related to his pro-life activism, according to The State.
Assistant U.S. Attorney DeWayne Pearson prosecuted the case and said, “No one seeks to bar [Lefemine’s] right to protest. However, he can’t block the door of a lawful facility where people are seeking reproductive health care, even if he disagrees with it.” He asked Anderson to sentence Lefemine to 90 days in jail and a $5,000 fine but because Lefemine is non-violent, Anderson gave him a shorter prison sentence.
Lefemine is a former U.S. Military Academy graduate who represented himself during his trial and sentencing hearing. He told Anderson that God’s law trumps human laws like the legalized intentional and direct killing of preborn children.
“I believe children living in the wombs of their mothers are legal persons and have the right to life,” he told Anderson, who gave him “credit” for holding sincere religious beliefs and for remaining non-violent in his activism.
As previously reported by Live Action News, the Planned Parenthood business in Columbia, South Carolina — where Lefemine blocked the entrance — has a history of repeated botched abortions necessitating 911 calls. The facility has also faced numerous health code violations that nearly caused it to be shut down by the state in 2015.
Lefemine’s sentencing is just the latest in a string of FACE Act convictions for pro-lifers. Lauren Handy, Will Goodman, John Hinshaw, Heather Idoni, Herb Geraghty, Joan Andrews Bell, Jonathan Darnel, Jean Marshall, Paulette Harlow, Chet Gallagher, Cal Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Paul Vaughn, and Dennis Green have all been tried and convicted of felony FACE Act violations as well as felony “conspiracy against rights.”
FAKE act...ohhh FACE act.
Steven shouldn’t have to serve one second or pay one cent.
I have questions about the constitutionality of the FACE Act. It singles out one type of protest - and therefore one type of speech - for special punishments. leftists can disrupt church services, conservative gatherings, government offices, businesses, and college administrative offices with little fear of the punishment that is increasingly imposed on pro-life demonstrators. This does NOT look like the “equal protection of the laws” demanded by the Constitution.
Equal protection seems to be ignored on many fronts - voting, for instance. But until a court rules otherwise, arrests like this will continue.
Sentencing lots of elderly women using that act.
but let antifa and blm shut down major thoroughfares- which is a complete felony I believe- preventing emergency vehicles fro0m gettign through, preventing people gettign to work, to critical jobs etc- preventing emergency situations from reaching help etc- - and it’s ‘they aren’t doing anything wrong’
Our communist rulers will not stand for any shenanigans involving “free speech” or “individual thought”...
Only solution is to lock the perpetrators up where the true brutal punishment can be administered...
I want to read about the prison sentences received by those who vandalize churches and pro life pregnancy centers. Which are also protected under that act.
must have missed that news.
It is without a doubt unconstitutional. Even though it does include other acts. There are already laws on the books about trespass and intimidation and other unlawful means to prevent a business from engaging in their day to day operations. Signaling out anti-abortion protest is clearly a government mandate to silence their speech.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.