{"id":169373,"date":"2017-07-19T09:16:04","date_gmt":"2017-07-19T13:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=169373"},"modified":"2017-07-21T14:41:29","modified_gmt":"2017-07-21T18:41:29","slug":"pro-life-activists-charged-face-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/pro-life-activists-charged-face-act\/","title":{"rendered":"10 pro-life activists charged under the federal F.A.C.E. Act"},"content":{"rendered":"
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UPDATE: As a clarification, eleven pro-life activists took place in the peaceful protest, but one was a minor. The minor has not been charged with a violation of the F.A.C.E. Act. <\/em><\/p>\n

Ten pro-life activists have been charged with violating the federal F.A.C.E. Act following a peaceful rescue event outside a Kentucky abortion facility in May. The event, held outside the EMW women’s abortion facility in Louisville, was organized by\u00a0Operation Save America (OSA). Rev. Rusty Thomas, national director of Operation Save America (OSA), said he decided to check his e-mail late Tuesday evening and discovered that he, along with the other pro-life activists, had been formally charged under the federal F.A.C.E. Act.<\/p>\n

F.A.C.E. is the “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act<\/a>,” a draconian piece of legislation signed into law by former President Bill Clinton in 1994. The text of the law is available here<\/a>, and, in part, “prohibits the use or threat of force and physical obstruction that injures, intimidates, or interferes with a person seeking to obtain or provide reproductive health services.”\u00a0Stiff fines and penalties often apply to anyone convicted under the charges.<\/p>\n

The F.A.C.E. Act came into effect during a season when the pro-life group Operation Rescue was having an impact in closing abortion facilities by using non-violent peaceful protest to intervene on behalf of innocent preborn children in the same spirit as the Civil Rights movement.<\/p>\n

\"Rev.

Rev. Rusty Thomas arrested at pro-life rescue May 2017<\/p><\/div>\n

Rev. Thomas said that he has been a witness outside abortion facilities for years.\u00a0But, it was an event in Louisville, Kentucky, on May 13, 2017, that triggered the current charges against him and ten others.\u00a0Rev. Thomas noted that the last time the federal government unsuccessfully attempted to charge him under F.A.C.E. was about 15 years ago.<\/p>\n

“Normally when we violated F.A.C.E. in the past, the charges came pretty quick,” Rev. Thomas noted. They are doing it right before we were going to Louisville,” he noted.\u00a0What Rev. Thomas is referring to is OSA’s national event, titled on Facebook, “For such a time as this<\/a>,” and\u00a0set to begin on July 22, 2017.\u00a0He believes the timing of the charges, just days before the national event, is not coincidental in the least.<\/p>\n

\"OSA

OSA activists charged with F.A.C.E.<\/p><\/div>\n

The civil F.A.C.E. complaint<\/a>, obtained by Live Action News and signed by Jessica R. C. Malloy, Assistant United States Attorney, Western District of Kentucky, charges that Rev. Thomas, Eva Edl<\/a> — an elderly concentration camp survivor, which Live Action News has previously<\/a> profiled — and eight others are “likely to continue to commit violations of the F.A.C.E. Act.”<\/p>\n

The complaint<\/a> goes on to state:<\/p>\n

On May 13, 2017, Defendants attempted to, and did by physical obstruction, intentionally interfere with persons who were or had been obtaining or providing reproductive health services. …<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unless defendants are restrained by this Court, defendants will continue to engage in the illegal conduct averred herein.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rev. Thomas told Live Action News that\u00a0after the arrest in May, the city charged the protesters with third degree trespass and a small fine. Then, on July 11, 2017, they held a pretrial hearing where Rev. Thomas and the other pro-life activists were issued a “no contact” charge, prohibiting them from even standing on the same side of the street as the \u00a0abortion facility without an arrest warrant being issued.<\/p>\n

“We are not going to be reactionaries. We are continuing with the mission and let the chips fall where they may,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"peaceful<\/p>\n

In addition to the civil F.A.C.E. charges, the group was also served with a temporary restraining order (TRO<\/a>) to prohibit them or “any others acting in concert or in participation with any Defendant” from “using physical obstruction to intentionally interfere” with a person who “was or had been obtaining or providing reproductive health services at EMW Women’s Surgical Center…”<\/p>\n

The TRO<\/a> defines a protected area around the abortion facility as a “buffer zone” and prohibits protesters from “coming within a buffer zone directly outside EMW’s entrance” during the hours the abortion facility is open and including two hours before and two hours after the facility closes.<\/p>\n

This week, the Metro City Council has also threatened to issue a “Safety Zone,” Rev. Thomas said.\u00a0But Rev. Thomas is resolute, telling Live Action News, “We already told them that under no circumstances will we surrender our First Amendment rights.”<\/p>\n