The Biden Department of Justice (DOJ) has continued its crusade against the pro-life movement, filing another federal lawsuit Monday in the Northern District of Ohio against two pro-life groups and seven people, who are accused of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
According to the DOJ press release, Citizens for a Pro Life Society and Red Rose Rescue, along with Laura Gies, Lauren Handy, Clara McDonald, Monica Miller, Christopher Moscinski, Jay Smith, and Audrey Whipple, are accused of violating the FACE Act on June 4th and 5th of 2021. Moscinski is better known as Father Fidelis, a Roman Catholic Franciscan Friar of the Renewal (CFR) from the Bronx, New York.
The incidents in question involved a Planned Parenthood in Bedford Heights and the Northeast Ohio Women’s Center in Cuyahoga Falls. At least two couples at the Planned Parenthood facility left after speaking to Handy and Miller, which Miller described as “a very good sign” that “gives us hope.” At Northeast Ohio Women’s Center, the other group engaged in a Red Rose Rescue, in which pro-lifers enter an abortion facility and hand the pregnant mothers red roses with cards offering them options beyond abortion. “You were made to love and to be loved,” the cards state. “Your goodness is greater than the difficulties of your situation. Circumstances in life change. A new life, however tiny, brings the promise of unrepeatable joy.”
Those participating in Red Rose Rescues often know they face the possibility of arrest. “The pro-lifers refuse to leave the clinic should they be ordered to do so by law-enforcement,” the group has said, as “an act of solidarity with the unborn about to be aborted.” They often peacefully resist by kneeling or lying down on the ground.
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The DOJ is seeking compensatory damages, monetary penalties, and injunctive relief. On the first count, the damages can be up to $20,516 for first violations, and up to $30,868 for subsequent violations; there could be an additional $5,000 in damages for each person “aggrieved by Defendants’ actions.” On the second count, the DOJ merely asked the court to “order appropriate injunctive relief.”
“Obstructing people from accessing reproductive health care and physically obstructing providers from offering it are unlawful,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Congress passed the FACE Act 30 years ago this month in response to acts of violence, threats of violence and physical obstruction at reproductive health clinics in our country. The Civil Rights Division is committed to enforcing federal law to protect the rights of those who seek and those who provide access to reproductive health services.”
