7 convicted of blocking access to Michigan abortion clinic
Seven activists have been convicted of crimes related to blocking a clinic in Sterling Heights in 2020.
"My office is committed to protecting all of the legal rights of our district's citizens, including the right to access reproductive health care," said U.S. Attorney Dawn Ison for the Eastern District of Michigan in a statement. "The defendants convicted today sought to interfere with that right by physically blocking the doors of clinics providing such services. These defendants are entitled to their views, but they are not entitled to prevent others from exercising the rights secured to them by the laws of the United States. This case is about the rule of law, and today's verdict is a victory for that principle."
Officials allege that Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl and Eva Zastrow conspired to "prevent clinic employees from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services, a civil right secured by the FACE Act."
The seven sat or stood in front of the entrance to a clinic in Sterling Heights so that patients and employees could not enter, the government said.
They interfered with a couple seeking to keep an appointment to end a pregnancy after learning that a 14-week-old fetus would not survive, the government said.
After a trial in federal court, the seven were found guilty Tuesday of conspiracy against rights and a second charge related to blocking clinic access. Edl and Idoni were also convicted of a separate access charge at a clinic in Saginaw.
U.S. District Judge Matthew Leitman said he would consider in the months ahead a request to dismiss the conspiracy charge. Defense lawyers said it's based on an 1870 federal law intended to stop the Ku Klux Klan from violating the rights of Blacks.
"The Department of Justice's novel strategy to inflict maximize pain upon peaceful pro-lifers by adding a charge ... cannot be squared with the law and we stand ready to make that case," attorney Steve Crampton said.