Activists sentenced to a total of 23 years for obstructing DC abortion clinic

An activist who participated in a blockade at an abortion clinic in Washington, D.C., in 2020 was sentenced to two years in prison on Friday, bringing the combined sentences of the 10 defendants involved in the incident to 23 years.

Paulette Harlow, 59, and nine others attended what they described as a “rescue” at the clinic that involved using chains, bike locks, and ropes to block the clinic entrance for more than two hours.

Nine were found guilty either in jury or bench trials of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act and conspiring to violate civil rights. A tenth defendant entered a guilty plea for one FACE Act charge. The FACE Act has been around for decades, but prosecutions under it have ramped up under the Biden administration’s Department of Justice.

Harlow, for her part, was found by Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly to have “jostled past three employees” and shoved a clinic manager into a chair in a waiting room, though the manager was not injured. Harlow and four others then chained themselves together and blocked the clinic entrance.

Lauren Handy, a co-defendant who organized the blockade, was sentenced earlier this month to four years and nine months in prison, the highest penalty of the 10 handed down.

Other sentences in the case ranged from 10 months for Jay Smith, the one who entered the guilty plea, to two years and 10 months for Jonathan Darnel, who stayed outside the clinic during the blockade and livestreamed it.

During the protest, one injury occurred when a nurse fell and sprained her ankle, according to court papers. The incident also prevented multiple patients from entering the clinic, including one who was “experiencing severe labor pains,” the court documents stated.

Martin Cannon, senior counsel at the Thomas More Society and Handy’s attorney, said he felt the sentences were unfair and plans to help the defendants with their appeals.

“These people are peaceful,” Cannon told the Washington Examiner. “They’re going in there on a very important social issue, as to which half the country agrees with them, and half the country has outlawed abortion in one way or another. These aren’t monsters.”

Cannon explained that it was unusual to see the DOJ couple the FACE Act, which often would result in no more than one year in prison for first-time offenders, with a conspiracy charge, which carries a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison.

He said it has “two effects that could be seen as dirty pool.”

“One of them is to take a misdemeanor and make it worth 10 years in prison,” Cannon said. “The other thing it does is it convicts, say, 10 people, like in this case, when only two actually did any blocking, or maybe three. If you can’t prove your case against the other seven, call it a conspiracy, and you got them anyway.”

Handy, who led the blockade, has a long history of protesting at abortion clinics. She took matters a step further in 2022 when police discovered she had the remains of five aborted fetuses in her apartment that appeared to be nearly full-term, according to photos of the incident.

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Handy said she retrieved the aborted remains from the Washington Surgi-Clinic, the same place where she led the blockade.

Dr. Cesare Santangelo ran the clinic at the time. The advocacy group Live Action once recorded Santangelo during an undercover operation saying he “would not help” a baby in the rare event the baby was born alive during a late-term abortion procedure.