Pro-life activist Heather Idoni received a sentence of 24 months in prison on Wednesday, convicted of federal conspiracy against rights and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act charges brought by the Justice Department.
Idoni, 59, will spend two years in prison for trying to stop abortions from taking place at a Washington, D.C., area abortion clinic on Oct. 20, 2020. She is mother to 15 children, according to LifeSite news, five of whom are her biological children and 10 of whom she and her husband reportedly adopted from Ukraine.
She told The Epoch Times that she expects to die in prison.
Her sentencing is part of the DOJ’s focus on enforcing the FACE Act against pro-life activists since the June 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade. Led by Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, the DOJ has charged dozens of pro-life activists for attempting to stop women from aborting their unborn babies.
Idoni is one of several pro-life activists sentenced to prison time in connection to the 2020 incident: pro-life activist Lauren Handy received 57 months in prison, John Hinshaw 21 months, WIlliam Goodman 27 months, Jonathan Darnel 34 months, Herb Geraghty 27 months, and Joan Bell 27 months .
“Federal law is clear: using force, threatening to use force or physically obstructing access to reproductive health care is unlawful,” Clarke said in a release announcing Idoni’s sentence. “People have a First Amendment right to communicate their views but they do not have the right to use chains, locks and obstruction to prevent access to reproductive health care facilities.”
“The Justice Department will continue to protect both patients seeking reproductive health services and providers of those services,” she added.
The DOJ releases on the topic do not include the word “abortion,” but rather use the phrasing “reproductive health.”
Earlier this month, Republican New Jersey Rep. Chris Smith called on the U.S. Marshals and the Bureau of Prisons to provide proper care to Idoni and fellow pro-life activist Jean Marshall following reports that Idoni had not received proper medical treatment while in the custody of the U.S. Marshals following a stroke.
Critics have accused President Joe Biden and the DOJ of weaponizing the FACE Act against pro-lifers while failing to charge pro-abortion criminals for the hundreds of attacks on pregnancy resource centers since the May 2022 leak of the draft Supreme Court opinion indicating Roe would soon be overturned.
Some, among them Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, have called for the repeal of the FACE Act, arguing that it serves no purpose but to target pro-life activists.
“The Biden administration is using the FACE Act to give pro-life activists and senior citizens lengthy prison terms for nonviolent offenses and protests—all while turning a blind eye to the violence, arson, and riots conducted on behalf of ‘approved’ leftist causes,” Lee told The Daily Signal earlier this month.
“Unequal enforcement of the law is a violation of the law,” he added, “and men and women who try to expose the horrors of abortion are being unjustly persecuted for their motivations.”
The enforcement of the FACE Act is led by Clarke, who, following a report from The Daily Signal, recently admitted that she hid an arrest for a violent incident, and its subsequent expungement, from investigators when she was confirmed to her Justice Department post.
On Monday, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Monday against seven pro-life activists and two pro-life organizations alleging that the pro-life organizations, Citizens for a Pro Life Society and Red Rose Rescue, as well as activists Laura Gies, Lauren Handy, Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Jay Smith, and Audrey Whipple violated the FACE Act when they sought to stop abortions from taking place at Ohio abortion clinics.
The DOJ’s complaint seeks “compensatory damages, monetary penalties and injunctive relief as provided by the FACE Act.”
Martin Cannon, senior counsel with the Thomas More Society, said in a statement this week that “hardly one week has passed since Lauren Handy was sentenced to 57 months in federal prison, and the Biden Department of Justice is already coming after her again using the FACE Act.”
“‘Red Rose Rescues’ are peaceful events where participants counsel outside the abortion business or walk in and sit with pregnant mothers in abortionists’ waiting rooms, giving them red roses and offering them the help and assistance they need to choose life—in the exact moment when they’re in dire need of compassionate support,” he explained. “These are not threatening or intimidating actions that violate the FACE Act, despite the caricature that the DOJ would like the public to believe.”
Reprinted with permission from The Daily Signal by Mary Margaret Olohan.
The opinions expressed by columnists are their own and do not necessarily represent the views of AMAC or AMAC Action.
All communist countries allow wholesale abortion.Joe Biden is a full out and out COMMUNIST hands down…Americaunder Joe Biden IS a full communistcountry…never thought I would live to see it.
So sad we have a president who controls the DOJ. It was okay for all the demonstrations on destruction and abuse of people and properties.
Sitting here confused:
1) Let me undertand what I heard!! Its bad to put drugs in cows or pigs but ok to put pubitery blockers in a 7 year old kid
2) The New plays on your feelings about childeren being killed or going hungery in Gaza but abortion is ok?
3) Its your body your right, except for Covid Vaccines’
We have to make sure this election is not stolen from us; they know they cant beat us at the ballot box. They are going to be demonic about stopping us; what shall we do.? They will be punished from Top to bottom for the Treason plus what theyve done to people like Heather, the Jan. 6 Patriots, etc .; they also know they will never be trusted again Ever. So how desperate will they be?, the stakes are for the heart soul, and Constitution of our USA. This is the cause of the NWOrder to destroy our USA and US.
These people are heroes.
Joe Biden’s government is opposed to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” That makes his government illegitimate. It is past time to put an end to despots and tyrants in this nation!
These people physically took over a clinic, injured a worker, refused to leave, etc. As much as I sympathize with their cause and, like them, work to end abortions, what they did was still destructive. My biggest qualm is that protesters for liberal causes do not also receive equivalent sentences, no matter how much they disrupt others and damage property.
So if I have it straight,it’s not ok to block access to killing the unborn “reproductive care”, but it’s ok to deny quality care for Ms. Idon
Everyone should say I’am glad I wasn’t aborted
What is sad is that there is no one to protect these people the Democrats are viscous and mean spirited they act like it’s a game.
look what I did I got them and no real crime was committed. Hopefully Trump will Pardon them when he takes office.
Would not surprise me if Biden pardons Kermit Gosnell when TG he gets booted out in November. Assuming he doesn’t barricade himself with De Nero in the Oval Office…
Praise for Mary Margaret Olohan for this informative article. It should be appreciated by all concerned about abortion and the issues that are involved with the matter of rights as American citizens.
This shows how sick our country is they devalue lives innocent lives at that , the government and the system is so warped and out of control and thousands of people have died from this Obiden administration from the bogus corna virus to hundreds of thousands dieing from fentinal poisoning to the sex and human trafficking to the wars back east and now the Obama Biden administration is trying to start an all out war with Russia. The leaders of America are sick and need to be removed from office , if they win the election our country will be destroyed as we know it and I can guarantee you they will becoming for us.Trump 2024
Another disqusting Biden