75-year-old pro-life protester given 24 month prison sentence by Biden’s DOJ despite husband's plea for mercy

A 75-year-old pro-life activist was sentenced to two years in prison by the US District Court for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. Paulette Harlow from Kingston, Massachusetts was one of ten individuals who were convicted as part of a “conspiracy” to block women from entering an abortion clinic in Washington, DC.

Harlow has been on house arrest since her conviction due to her ill health. Her husband pleaded for leniency but those pleas were ignored by the court. John Harlow said "I feel like Paulette is dying. In my heart, I think she’s having a hard time staying alive." He is her caretaker and said that he would take care of her in prison if he could, LiveAction reported.

"We’ve tried to be good people," he said. "I love my wife dearly. She’s made me go beyond what I’d otherwise have done" to help others. "We’re throwing ourselves on the mercy of the court," he said.

After the 2 year prison term, by which time she will be 77 years old, she will be subjected to 36 months of supervised release. She will remain on house arrest until a federal facility that can accommodate her medical needs is found.

According to a press release from the US Attorney’s Office, many of these defendants traveled to Washington DC from various states to meet with Lauren Handy, who organized the demonstration and broadcasted it on Facebook. Handy was also convicted and sentenced.

The government's attorney claimed that the case against Harlow was "not about the defendant's beliefs," but about the "violent obstruction of reproductive health care."

“According to the evidence, on October 22, 2020, Handy – along with her co-conspirators Jonathan Darnel, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, Jean Marshall, Joan Bell, Herb Geraghty, Heather Idoni, and Paula Harlow, among others – forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes. Once the blockade was established, they live-streamed their activities,” the DOJ stated. 

“The evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services,” it added.

Most of the demonstrators involved also received sentences of at least two years. Handy was sentenced in May to nearly five years in prison and three years of supervised release. She is also facing additional lawsuits for violating the FACE Act at two Ohio clinics.

The DOJ explained that the investigation was conducted by the FBI’s Washington Field Office, the Metropolitan Police Department, and the FBI’s Pittsburgh Field Office. The FACE Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton, has been routinely used by the Biden administration to prosecute pro-life activists, leading to calls from some Republican politicians for its repeal.

Representative Chip Roy heavily criticized the FACE Act earlier this year, claiming that it is being “weaponized against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum.”

"We were there because we are compassionate, we do care, and we love them," Harlow said in a statement. "It’s despicable that in this country we have pregnant women and we can’t do anything to help them except offer to kill their child. That’s not help at all. It’s not good healthcare when one of the people involved has to die."

"I don’t think women are being cared for properly in this country. Offering them abortion is only taking advantage of them when they are afraid," Harlow said.