From yesterday’s press release from the Department of Justice:
Three Florida residents pleaded guilty today to conspiring to injure, oppress, threaten or intimidate Pregnancy Resource Center employees for freely exercising their rights to provide and seek to provide reproductive health services. The defendants selected reproductive health facilities that offered alternatives to abortion and provided counseling and disrupted those facilities with threatening messages.
According to court documents, between May and July 2022, Caleb Freestone, Amber Smith-Stewart and Annarella Rivera Anti-abortion pregnancy help centers in Florida have launched a series of targeted attacks. The defendants admitted they took part in the late-night attacks and wore masks and dark clothing to conceal their identities, and spray-painted threatening messages on the facility, including “If abortion isn’t safe, it’s not safe.” [sic] Are you there?” “Your time has come!!
“These defendants disrupted pregnancy resource centers with threatening messages designed to intimidate employees at these centers,” said Assistant Attorney General Christine Clark of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Violence and threats have no place in the national discussion about reproductive rights. leeway. The Department of Justice is committed to holding accountable those who seek to interfere with our country’s reproductive health services, regardless of the perspective of the defendant or their client.”
“Federal law protects providers of reproductive health care and the people who seek their services,” said Roger Handberg, U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Florida. “Neither should be subject to unlawful intimidation or threats of harm. We will continue to work with our law enforcement partners to protect access to reproductive care and prosecute those who interfere with this right federally.” …
The defendants were “allied with a pro-life extremist network called ‘Jane’s Revenge'” immediately after the attack. Dobbs Opinions leaked.
