{"id":313219,"date":"2024-06-01T08:27:57","date_gmt":"2024-06-01T13:27:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=313219"},"modified":"2024-06-04T13:55:09","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T18:55:09","slug":"elderly-prolifers-husband-begs-mercy-prison","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/elderly-prolifers-husband-begs-mercy-prison\/","title":{"rendered":"Elderly pro-lifer’s husband begs court for mercy as judge sentences ailing wife to prison"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Paulette Harlow, age 75, was sentenced in a Washington, D.C. federal court on the afternoon of May 31 in relation to her participation in an October 2020 <\/span>rescue action<\/span><\/a> at the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility, run by notorious abortionist Cesare Santangelo.<\/span><\/p>\n

Unlike her co-defendants \u2014 Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, William Goodman<\/a>, Jonathan Darnel, Herb Geraghty, Jean Marshall, Joan Bell<\/a>, and Heather Idoni<\/a> \u2014\u00a0who were immediately <\/span>incarcerated<\/span><\/a> following their <\/span>convictions<\/span><\/a>, Harlow has been on house arrest due to ill health following her November 2023 <\/span>conviction<\/span><\/a> of so-called \u201c<\/span>conspiracy against rights<\/span><\/a>\u201d and <\/span>FACE Act<\/span><\/a> violations. In spite of Harlow\u2019s poor health, however, <\/span>Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly<\/span><\/a> sentenced her to serve 24 months in federal prison, followed by 36 months of supervised release.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Prior to Kollar-Kotelly\u2019s pronouncement of Harlow\u2019s sentence, statements were made by government attorney Rebecca Ross, defense attorney Allen Orenberg, the defendant\u2019s husband, John Harlow, and Harlow herself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her statement for the government, attorney Ross insisted the case was \u201cnot about the defendant\u2019s beliefs,\u201d but rather about \u201cviolent obstruction of reproductive healthcare\u201d and \u201cviolating the civil rights of others.\u201d Ross accused Harlow of attempting to use her poor health as an \u201cexcuse\u201d to \u201cescape the consequences\u201d of her actions and of lying under oath at her trial, though exactly how Harlow allegedly did the latter was not made clear. Ross claimed that Harlow \u201cdenied empathy and compassion\u201d to women attempting to abort their children on the day of the rescue, and recommended a sentence of 33-41 months.<\/span><\/p>\n

Defense attorney Orenberg emphasized that Harlow\u2019s health is rapidly declining, and that interrupting her current care by sending her to prison would be detrimental to her already-fragile condition. \u201cShe cannot continue to exist without support, especially that of her husband,\u201d Orenberg stated. He also noted that Harlow is a mother of 6, including 4 adopted children, and a grandmother of 8, as well as a respected member of both her civic and church communities.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Harlow spoke next, delivering a heartfelt emotional statement on his wife\u2019s behalf. \u201cI feel like Paulette is dying,\u201d he said. \u201cIn my heart, I think she\u2019s having a hard time staying alive.\u201d He referred to himself as his wife\u2019s \u201cvalet,\u201d explaining that he provides all of her necessary care, and expressed that he would gladly take her place in prison, if he could.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

READ: Sentencing of pro-life activists continues as grandmother receives two years<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve tried to be good people,\u201d he continued, adding, \u201cI love my wife dearly. She\u2019s made me go beyond what I\u2019d otherwise have done\u201d to help others. He concluded by saying, \u201cWe\u2019re throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

In her statement, Harlow emphasized that the portrayal of the rescuers as callous and lacking sympathy for pregnant women is untrue. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe were there because<\/em> we are compassionate, we do care, and we love them,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s despicable that in this country we have pregnant women and we can\u2019t do anything to help them except offer to kill their child. That\u2019s not help at all,\u201d she stated. \u201cIt\u2019s not good healthcare when one of the people involved has to die,\u201d she observed, adding, \u201cI don\u2019t think women are being cared for properly in this country. Offering them abortion is only taking advantage of them when they are afraid.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Judge Kollar-Kotelly echoed the accusations of the prosecution in her closing comments, claiming that Harlow violated abortion-seekers\u2019 civil rights, describing the rescue action as \u201cviolent,\u201d and characterizing Harlow as lacking in kindness and remorse. After pronouncing sentence, Kollar-Kotelly made a cryptic statement regarding her hope that Harlow would \u201cmake an effort to remain alive\u201d because that is a \u201ctenet of [Harlow\u2019s] religion.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Harlow is being permitted to remain on house arrest while determinations are being made regarding which federal facility is suitable to provide her necessary level of medical care. Like her co-defendants, she is being forbidden from coming within 1000 feet of any abortion facility during her period of supervised release.<\/span><\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paulette Harlow, age 75, was sentenced in a Washington, D.C. federal court on the afternoon of May 31 in relation to her participation in an October 2020 rescue action at the Washington Surgi-Clinic abortion facility, run by notorious abortionist Cesare Santangelo. Unlike her co-defendants \u2014 Lauren Handy, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, Jonathan Darnel, Herb Geraghty, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":788,"featured_media":313340,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[2793,3473,9459],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nElderly pro-lifer's husband begs court for mercy as judge sentences ailing wife to prison<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gov atty Rebecca Ross accused Harlow of using her poor health to \u201cescape... consequences," and claimed she \u201cdenied... compassion\u201d to women.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/elderly-prolifers-husband-begs-mercy-prison\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" 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