Pro-Lifers Face 11 Years Of Prison Time For Blocking Access To An Abortion Clinic

11 years is what they could get. But they are unlikely to get the max sentence. And I don't mind celebrating diverse viewpoints. But also think those that purposely break the law should be arrested.

 

It’s people like you and posts like this that make me wonder if they should get a prison sentence. Open defiance of the law because their religion compels them to break the law.

 

A jury of their peers convicted these protesters under the FACE law, which says protestors cannot block the entrance of a business. A jury in Tennessee, no less. Max sentence is 10.5 years, but doubtful they get the max.

This isn't political. They broke the law. They knew the potential to be arrested and convicted. They took the risks, and now, they have to deal with the consequences.

 

It’s a private building, so if they were told to leave that’s called trespassing.

If they were blocking people from going in, they committed a more serious crime than mere trespassing. 11 years sounds harsh though.

 

It sounds like the defendants need protected status. Can we also cut some checks to them as well? In the name of research.

 

Not a good comparison at all. The issue with prosecutions in the south, is you’d have an all white jury and often flimsy or heresy evidence to convict a black person who may not have even had proper representation or due process under the constitution.

You think this jury was 12 women who had abortions or something?

There doesn’t seem to be a question they did what was alleged here, and that what they did is criminal. The only question is if 11 years is too harsh.

 

There is no ruling. The Jury is deliberating. So you assume you have better facts of the situation reading this article than the actual jury who heard all of the argument?

So your assertion is that Democrats can’t charge Christians with crimes because that is a conflict of interest? FFS. (Facepalm)

The argument of the defense seems to be that since the perpetrators were doing something that they thought was good that they should be exempt from the law.

I am pretty sure that if I were going for an abortion (ignoring that isn’t biologically possible) I would not want to be bothered by a bunch of religious zealots inside a private building blocking the doorway. I would not at all view that as “help”.

 

There’s a surprise.

It never even occurred to you that a source like this may have a dog in the fight? The way the article was written was clearly sympathetic to one side. But that didn’t stop you from posting this thread and declaring once again how Christians are victims.

 

The jury concluded its deliberations and convicted them. Sentencing is scheduled for July.

 

Also, it's telling why they went inside the building. They wanted to target the patients of the clinic and had no way to differentiate between them and other people with business in the building.

Years ago I drove a good friend to her procedure. (I provided transportation and financial assistance, not genetic material.) The asshole protesters at that clinic were throwing 1.5-2" plastic fetuses at the people going in. I got my friend situated inside and after they took her back, I went outside, called the closest protester over, showed him my badge and very clearly explained that the very next fetus they threw at or near someone was going to result in that person going to jail. It was a nice day and I didn't mind waiting outside. After about 20 minutes they all left, apparently upset they could no longer assault people.

 

Wherever people stand on abortion, thread titles like this don't help anyone.

Clearly, nobody is ever going to jail for just "singing and praying". It's reductionist - we should all be better than this.

 

Props to you for realizing your source was complete shit. I read the whole article and it never even specified that they were arrested for blocking the entrance. Instead it suggests their first amendment rights were violated and they were religiously persecuted. It would serve you well to consume some media that’s not ridiculously slanted like this.

 

I'm sure this makes sense to you buddy

 

My daughter lives in the U.K. and as a consequence I keep abreast of U.K. news. It is explicitly illegal to engage with women having an abortion. You can't pray for, counsel or even hold up a sign within so many feet of an abortion clinic. One woman has been arrested, more than once, for praying silently across the street from an abortion clinic. When the police ask her if she were praying she says, "I might be". The cases were thrown out by judges. A priest was arrested for holding up a sign saying "Praying for free speech" near an abortion clinic. I don't believe any of these people were convicted but the authorities are trying to intimidate those who think incorrectly.
Related to free speech but not abortion a student on the way home from celebrating the end of a term with some heavy drinking was arrested for calling a police horse gay.
It is often pointed out that you are much more likely to be arrested for speech crimes in the U.K. than Russia. We would like to believe that the West is more free than authoritative Russia/Putin but the evidence suggested that we are not. We enforce different norms but we, the West, are quite diligent about enforcing them.

 

The U.K. parameters for free speech and significantly different than the US.

 

One thing that is the same is they have a frothing right-wing press unconstrained from honest reporting that likes to sensationalize cultural war stories