For nearly three decades since it became law under President Bill Clinton, the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act hadn’t been used to prosecute even a single pro-abortion-rights protester for blocking access to a pro-life clinic. That is, until last month.
On Jan. 24, the Department of Justice indicted two Florida residents, 27-year-old Caleb Freestone and 23-year-old Amber Smith-Stewart, for conspiracy to prevent employees from entering and providing services at three pro-life centers in the Sunshine State. The indictment—following from the first two arrests of any kind in relation to the string of violent attacks against pro-life centers and people beginning last May—were for acts of vandalismtargeting clinics between May and July last year. The crimes, like so many others of the same nature, took place shortly after the leak of a draft of the Supreme Court’s majority opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization Supreme Court.
Earlier in January, the FBI issued a reward of $25,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for a series of violent attacks against pregnancy resource centers, faith-based organizations, as well as “reproductive-health clinics” (the FBI’s term) across the country. The agency identified nine targeted pro-life facilities and one building used by Planned Parenthood in California for the reward.
“It feels like they threw us a bone,” said Rev. Jim Harden, CEO of CompassCare, one of the pregnancy resource centers listed for the reward. CompassCare has three clinics in western New York. Last June, its Buffalo clinic was hit with firebombs and vandalism. The attack resulted in more than $500,000 in physical damage, but has yet to result in a single arrest.
The violence at Harden’s clinic was some of the most severe, but it was hardly an isolated case. At least 80pregnancy resource centers were hit with crude vandalism, threats, after the Dobbs leak. The attacks began immediately, from the words “MY BODY MY CHOICE” spray-painted on the wooden doors of a Denver, Colo., church to Antifa members joining pro-abortion protesters and smashing up store windows, governmental buildings, and pregnancy centers in Portland, Ore. And the attacks continue today, if at a slower clip.