In a stiff rebuke to those who take the law into their own hands, a DC judge has dished out hard time to three protestors who conspired to block a reproductive health clinic. Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, and William Goodman, now face prison sentences of 57, 21, and 27 months respectively, in a clear message that barriers to legal medical services won't stand.
The trio, standing trial for brazenly thwarting clinic access and violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, were handed their sentences alongside a mandate for three years of supervised release; the details of their conviction were outlined in a Department of Justice press release, which revealed the defendants' calculated efforts to block the Washington, D.C. facility’s doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes disrupting its services and alarming staff and patients. Four more of the total ten indicted are queued up to face the music tomorrow, with two others awaiting their fate in the weeks to come.
"These defendants conspired to use force to prevent fellow citizens from exercising rights protected by law," declared U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia Matthew Graves, underscoring the law's intolerance for such aggressive tactics, according to the Department of Justice. Reinforcing this standpoint, Kristen Clarke, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, affirmed that combating obstruction to reproductive health care services remains a federal priority, vowing that the Justice Department will continue to enforce federal law prohibiting this conduct.
According to court documents, the radical game plan saw Handy, Hinshaw, and Goodman travel from various parts of the country to execute their blockade, as indicated by Handy's badge and even brazenly broadcasted over Facebook. The FBI's commitment to preventing such breaches of civil rights was highlighted by David Sundberg, Assistant Director in Charge, who pledged continued vigilance against FACE Act violations to assure "patients and providers can exercise their right to receive or provide lawful reproductive health care without the threat of violence or intimidation," a stance that reflects an unyielding defense of legally protected access to medical services, as reported by the Department of Justice.
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