CNA Staff, Jan 26, 2024 / 16:30 pm
Six pro-life activists are on trial in Nashville, Tennessee, facing federal charges related to a 2021 blockade of a nearby abortion clinic.
The blockade, documented in a March 5, 2021, video posted on Facebook, showed a large group of pro-life activists ranging from elderly to young children walking into an abortion clinic and blocking access to the door by sitting in front of it.
The video shows pro-life activists singing Christian hymns and praying. Police can be seen demanding they leave the Carafem Health Center Clinic in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, and while some do, others refuse.
The federal government announced in October 2022 that it had charged 11 of the individuals under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. The FACE Act, which is the same law that pro-life father of seven Mark Houck was charged and acquitted under early last year, prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”