Tennessee woman sentenced to 41 months in prison for blocking entrance to NYC Planned Parenthood

A Tennessee woman has been sentenced to 41 months in prison and two years of supervised release for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act. 33-year-old Bevelyn Beatty Williams was accused of blocking access to a lower Manhattan Planned Parenthood clinic.

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press release, "Bevelyn Beatty Williams repeatedly intimidated and interfered with individuals seeking and providing critical reproductive health services.  She did so by physically blocking access to clinics, threatening staff, and by force. This Office and our law enforcement partners are committed to ensuring that patients exercising their legal right to obtain reproductive health services, and healthcare facilities and their staff providing those services, can do so without unlawful interference or fear of threats or violence."

According to the Department of Justice, Williams "threatened and used force against patients and staff members at a reproductive health center located in lower Manhattan" on June 19 and 20, 2020, blocking patients and staff from entering. Williams was reportedly caught on camera pressing her body against the door of the abortion clinic’s patient entrance. When a clinic staff member attempted to open the door for a volunteer, Williams leaned against the door and crushed the staff member’s hand, trapping and injuring it.

When staff members diverted patients from the patient entrance, where Williams was standing, to the staff entrance, Williams reportedly moved to that entrance and directed others to do the same.

Williams had live-streamed some of the actions, with one stream on June 19 capturing Williams telling the clinic’s chief administrative officer that "we’re gonna terrorize you so good, your business is gonna be over mama" and they would "terrorize this place." Williams also "stood within inches of a Health Center security officer and threatened 'war.'"

Williams and others were said to have interfered with those trying to go into abortion clinics across the country between 2019 and 2022, including in states like Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and in Brooklyn, New York. At a Fort, Meyers, Florida clinic in January 2022, Williams directed others to block entrances to the clinic, with the DOJ noting that this delayed treatment for over a dozen patients, including three that had "time-sensitive" procedures scheduled.

At an Atlanta, Georgia clinic in July 2022, Williams was said to have "screamed through the door at patients attempting to enter the facility until they were forced to leave," and shouted that she would go to jail before she let patients into the abortion clinic.

According to New York Daily News, Manhattan Federal Court Judge Jennifer Rochon said in the sentencing hearing, "You cannot commit crimes even in the name of a religious cause. People were trying to give and get legal medical services." Williams had been found guilty by a jury on February 12. 

Williams told the court on Wednesday, "If I wasn’t saved [by Christ], I would have punched that woman in the face," adding, "In my heart, I would have never wanted that woman’s hand to be hurt." Williams, who is originally from Staten Island, said that she had received an abortion at 15 and it "took a toll on me."