This is a misleading description of the perpetrator in this case. People are free to “convince or persuade” outside of abortion clinics, but they can’t force their beliefs on others by physically blockading the entrance to an abortion clinic.
They entered a clinic and set up a barricade. They filmed themselves doing it. They weren’t exercising a First Amendment right, they were on private property running amok and physically preventing people from exercising their rights.
No, I wouldn’t, because ‘Life Site News’ and the word of her co-conspirator are not impartial sources of information.
She got two years, plus 8 months for a similar stunt in Tennessee (to run concurrently with her DC sentence), plus another in Michigan that will probably not go anywhere given Trump’s disdain for the rule of law.
But to be clear, this isn’t a misdemeanor, it’s a felony, conspiracy against rights carries a sentence of up to 10 years (18 U.S. Code § 241), and a felony is any crime that can be punished by up to 1 year or more (18 U.S. Code § 3559).
It’s also arguably a violent felony, which is “an offense that has as an element of the offense the use, attempted use, or threatened use of physical force against the person or property of another” (18 U.S. Code § 3156), emphasis added), though I’m not sure if the use of force would be considered an element of the conspiracy.
The term “reproductive health service” is defined in the law:
The term “reproductive health services” means reproductive health services provided in a hospital, clinic, physician’s office, or other facility, and includes medical, surgical, counselling or referral services relating to the human reproductive system, including services relating to pregnancy or the termination of a pregnancy. (18 U.S. Code § 248, emphasis added)
And, not for nothing, the FACE Act provides for the same penalties to apply to someone doing what these protesters did at a church.