NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The final three anti-abortion activists convicted of a 2021 Tennessee clinic blockade were sentenced this week, including the person considered to be the main organizer of the action.
Chester Gallagher was sentenced on Thursday to 16 months in prison, by far the longest sentence among 11 people convicted of various offenses. In addition to organizing the March 5, 2021, blockade of a Carafem clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennesse, a town 17 miles (27.36 kilometers) east of Nashville, prosecutors said Gallgher “exploited his specialized knowledge gleaned from his law enforcement experience to prolong the blockade as long as possible.”
Gallagher and a co-defendant stalled police with phony negotiations, prosecutors said. Their actions disrupted not only the Carafem clinic, but other medical offices that shared the same building.
Heather Idoni, who is currently serving a 2-year sentence for a 2020 clinic blockade in Washington, D.C., was sentenced on Friday to 8 months in prison. However, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger allowed the sentence to be served concurrently to the D.C. sentence.
She said she was lenient, in part, because of Idoni's many good works. They include adopting orphans from Ukraine. But Idoni has a blind spot with regards to abortion, Trauger said.
“She allowed her own personal views to inflict emotional damage on other people with views with which she disagrees,” Trauger said.
Both Idoni and Gallagher were convicted of obstructing access to the clinic as well as a more serious federal conspiracy charge. In addition to incarceration, they were further sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Four others who were also convicted of conspiracy charges were sentenced in July to terms ranging from 6 months in prison to three years of supervised release, and three people who were convicted of misdemeanors were each sentenced to three years of probation.
Gallagher, Idoni and Eva Edl were not sentenced with their co-defendants in July because they were preparing for a Michigan trial involving similar charges. In that case all three were found guilty of obstructing access to the Northland Family Planning Clinic in Sterling Heights and felony conspiracy. Edl and Idoni were additionally found guilty of blockading the Women’s Health Clinic in Saginaw. They have not been sentenced in the Michigan blockades.
On Thursday, Edl received a sentence of 3 years of probation in the Tennessee clinic blockade.
One Tennessee defendant, Caroline Davis, who pleaded guilty in October to misdemeanor charges and cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced to three years of probation in April.
The 2021 blockade came nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. The organizers used social media to promote and livestream actions they hoped would prevent the clinic from performing abortions, according to testimony. They also intended the video as a training tool for other activists, Trauger found.
Travis Loller, The Associated Press
