The Epoch Times
The Epoch Times
AD
The Epoch Times
Support Us
SHARE
USRegional & State NewsState NewsMichigan News

Pro-Lifers Indicted for 2020 Blocking of Doors at Michigan Abortion Facility

Copy
Facebook
X
Truth
Gettr
LinkedIn
Telegram
Email
Save
Pro-Lifers Indicted for 2020 Blocking of Doors at Michigan Abortion Facility
Pro-life activists pray in front of an abortion facility door in Sterling Heights, Mich., on August 27, 2020. Cal Zastrow
Beth Brelje
By Beth Brelje
2/23/2023Updated: 2/23/2023
0:00

The Department of Justice (DOJ) is reaching back almost three years to charge eight pro-life activists who, by sitting and praying, blocked the door of an abortion facility in Sterling Heights, Michigan.

Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl, and Eva Zastrow each face up to 11 years in federal prison, if convicted. Many have already been charged for similar incidents.

According to last week’s DOJ indictment, on Aug. 27, 2020, the eight activists committed conspiracy to prevent women from having abortions by using social media to communicate about standing “in between the hands of an abortionist that wants to murder these children and the life of these babies,” citing video that was livestreamed by one of those who was indicted.

The activists were also charged with violation of the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which was enacted in 1994 to prohibit interference with obtaining or providing abortions.

The group prevented a woman from entering the facility “for a scheduled reproductive health care appointment,” the indictment said. The Sterling Heights police told the group to move. They “refused to move and instead engaged the officers in conversation as a delay tactic, and continued to block access,” the indictment says, and then quotes another of the indicted individuals, who said on the video, “[The] longer they talk with us, the better the opportunity we have to see women and children rescued. And that’s what obstructing the door of an abortion clinic is about and why it is so successful.”

Edl, an 87-year-old communist concentration camp survivor, refused to move and encouraged the others to continue blocking access.

“You can arrest us, you can do whatever you want, but I will be back, wherever there is a clinic open,” court documents cite her as saying.

Some of them are among the 11 people already charged with FACE Act violations and conspiracy for a March 2021 pro-life demonstration at a now-closed abortion facility in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

Idoni, 58, already faces 22 years in federal prison, 11 years for the Tennessee incident, and 11 years for charges related to her presence at another abortion facility in October 2020 in Washington. Now with the potential of 11 more years, she could face a total of 33 years and expects that she would die before being released from prison.

“My own mother admitted to me that, had abortion been legal in 1964, she would have aborted me. I would hope someone would have fought for my life the same way we’ve been fighting for the lives of babies now,” Idoni told The Epoch Times. “Whenever I start to feel like I may have been in over my head, I just am reminded of the millions of babies that have been dismembered and killed brutally since 1973. And then I realized I haven’t done enough. This holocaust is nowhere near the end. And so I just want to glorify God in all the things that I do. I have no regrets whatsoever for the actions that I’ve taken to spare lives.”

The indictment comes after a grand jury investigation.

“This is what faithful Christianity looks like in a nation that murders children,” Zastrow told The Epoch Times.

Pro-Lifers Targeted

Penalties against the pro-life community have been on the rise under President Joe Biden.

In the 10 years between 2011 and 2021, the DOJ criminally charged 17 people with FACE Act violations, according to the agency’s website. In 2022 alone, the DOJ charged 26 people.

The Epoch Times requested comment from the DOJ but didn’t receive a response by press time.

Shortly after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Biden issued an executive order in July 2022 for his administration to address “potential heightened safety and security risks related to the provision of reproductive health care services.” He formed the Reproductive Rights Task Force, a Justice Department-led group focused, in part, on enforcing the FACE Act.

Regarding penalties for violating the FACE Act, “Except that for an offense involving exclusively a nonviolent physical obstruction,” the DOJ website states, “the fine shall be not more than $10,000 and the length of imprisonment shall be not more than six months, or both, for the first offense.” A subsequent offense shall be no more than $25,000 and the length of imprisonment no more than 18 months. However, the eight activists face 11 years in prison because the DOJ has also begun adding conspiracy charges.

Beth Brelje
Beth Brelje
Reporter
Beth Brelje is a former reporter with The Epoch Times. Ms. Brelje previously worked in radio for 20 years and after moving to print, worked at Pocono Record and Reading Eagle.
Author’s Selected Articles

Pennsylvania House Calls for State Probe of Trump Assassination Attempt

Jul 19, 2024
Pennsylvania House Calls for State Probe of Trump Assassination Attempt

After Injured Trump Arrived at Pennsylvania Hospital, ER Patients Prayed

Jul 16, 2024
After Injured Trump Arrived at Pennsylvania Hospital, ER Patients Prayed

Eyewitness Describes Man With Rifle Crawling Up Roof Near Trump Rally

Jul 14, 2024
Eyewitness Describes Man With Rifle Crawling Up Roof Near Trump Rally

Rally Witnesses Describe Moments as Gunman Attempts to Assassinate Trump

Jul 14, 2024
Rally Witnesses Describe Moments as Gunman Attempts to Assassinate Trump
Related Topics
Michigan
indictment
Save
The Epoch Times
Copyright © 2000 - 2025 The Epoch Times Association Inc. All Rights Reserved.