On May 31, 75-year-old Paula “Paulette” Harlow was sentenced to two years in prison for praying and singing psalms at Dr. Cesare Santangelo’s Washington, D.C., abortion clinic. Santangelo has long been accused of performing illegal late-term abortions, and was caught on camera admitting he would do nothing to help abortion victims who were born alive.

Paulette and her sister, Jean Marshall, traveled to the clinic to pray.

“We prayed, we sang music, and we called out to some of the women and told them not to be afraid, that we could help them, that they could still change their mind, and that we love them,” said Harlow of the incident.

As U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly delivered Paulette’s two-year prison sentence last week, she mocked and taunted the elderly grandmother, sneering that Paulette should “make an effort to remain alive” since that is a “tenet of faith.”

Judge Kollar-Kotelly knows full well that 730 days behind bars without her current medical care may well kill the elderly woman.

“Taunting an elderly woman about potentially dying alone in prison is disgraceful,” said Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX). “Clinton Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly disgraced the justice system with this remark and with this decision.”

“The DOJ has weaponized their position,” says Abby Johnson, former Planned Parenthood clinic director turned pro-life activist. “And there is unfair treatment going on here with the Biden administration,” says Johnson, detailing the attacks on pro-life pregnancy resource centers that the Biden administration has refused to investigate.

“That shows that there is something political at play here and there is an unequal balance of justice,” Johnson says.

The Biden administration’s selective enforcement of the FACE Act, only using it to attack political enemies and peaceful dissenters, is a gross violation of one of the most fundamental principles of American and common law —equal treatment and protection under the law.

America does not have a two-tiered justice system in which the law is only applied to an administration’s political enemies.

But Joe Biden is using the FACE Act to create one.

Americans have a constitutional right to free speech and peaceful protest.

Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) have teamed up to REPEAL the FACE Act with S 3017 and HR 5577.

END the ABUSE! Vote YES on HR 5577 & S 3017!

Sen. Lee said the Biden DOJ is using FACE to “harass peaceful pro-life activists while simultaneously stonewalling good faith efforts by members of Congress to conduct even elementary oversight of the law.”

“Free Americans should never live in fear of their government targeting them because of their beliefs,” Rep. Roy says.

Biden learned the art of weaponizing the government against pro-lifers under Barack Obama. On August 18, 2020, the Obama DOJ, under Attorney General Eric Holder, sued our client, Susan Pine. The DOJ sought to hold this peaceful woman liable for up to 10,000 dollars.

After two years of litigation, the federal judge dismissed the case, ruling there were no facts supporting a violation of FACE and ordered the DOJ to pay over 100,000 dollars!

We have beaten back similar abuses by the New York attorney general.

WE WILL NOT ALLOW THE GOVERNMENT TO BULLY PEOPLE.

Paulette’s faith under fire is humbling. “I felt like it was a tremendous privilege to stand in the court on behalf of the unborn, who have no voice,” she says. “I know that wherever I go, God’s going with me, and He’s going before me, and He’ll be with me, and He’ll protect me, and He’ll fill me with joy, like He did in the courtroom.”

“I’ll be OK. I’m with God,” Paulette says.

Liberty Counsel is defending people wrongly accused and indicted under the FACE Act and otherwise persecuted by this administration for refusing to toe the progressive party line — including the Jan. 6 case at the U.S. Supreme Court, Sandra Merritt, Kim Davis, and many more.

We don’t charge our clients. Instead, they rely on YOUR generous financial support. Every donation made to our legal fund today will be DOUBLED by a Challenge Grant.

Mat Staver
Founder and Chairman
Liberty Counsel

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Sources:

“DOJ has ‘weaponized’ their treatment of pro-life protestors: Abby Johnson.” Fox & Friends Weekend, June 9, 2024. Foxnews.com/video/6354671185112.

“Elderly Pro-Life Activist, 75, Sentenced to Prison after Abortion Clinic Demonstration.” Fox News. New York Post, June 6, 2024. NYpost.com/2024/06/06/us-news/elderly-pro-life-activist-75-sentenced-to-prison-after-abortion-clinic-demonstration/.

“Eric Holder's Political Prosecution of Pro-Life Educator Thrown Out of Court.” Liberty Counsel, January 6, 2012. https://www.lc.org/newsroom/details/eric-holder-s-political-prosecution-of-pro-life-educator-thrown-out-of-court-1.

“HR 5577 - Face Act Repeal Act.” Congress.gov. Accessed June 27, 2024. Congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/5577.

“S 3017 - Restoring the First Amendment and Right to Peaceful Civil Disobedience Act” Congress.gov. Accessed June 27, 2024. Congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/senate-bill/3017.

“Sen. Lee, Rep. Roy Team Up to Repeal the FACE Act.” Mike Lee: US Senator for Utah. October 4, 2023. Lee.senate.gov/2023/10/sen-lee-rep-roy-team-up-to-repeal-the-face-act.

‌‌Somashekhar, Sandhya, and Lena H. Sun. “Antiabortion Group Releases Videos of Clinic Workers Discussing Live Births.” The Washington Post, May 18, 2023. Washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/antiabortion-group-releases-videos-of-clinic-workers-discussing-live-births/2013/04/28/36678eb0-adf5-11e2-98ef-d1072ed3cc27_story.html.

Troutman, Elizabeth. “Elderly Pro-Lifer Prosecuted by DOJ Describes Joy as She Faces Prison: ‘I’m with God.’” The Daily Signal, June 4, 2024. Dailysignal.com/2024/06/04/75-year-old-woman-feels-joy-face-two-year-prison-sentence-pro-life-activism/.