NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The last three anti-abortion activists convicted in a 2021 blockade of a Tennessee clinic were sentenced this week, including the person believed to be the main organizer of the action.
Chester Gallagher was sentenced Thursday to 16 months in prison, by far the longest sentence among 11 people convicted of various crimes. In addition to organizing the March 5, 2021, blockade of a Carafem clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennesse, a city 17 miles (27.36 kilometers) east of Nashville, prosecutors said Gallgher “leveraged his specialized knowledge from his law enforcement experience to extend the sentence.” keep the blockade as long as possible.”
Gallagher and a co-defendant stalled police with false negotiations, prosecutors said. Their actions disrupted not only the Carafem clinic, but also other medical offices that shared the same building.
Heather Idoni, who is currently serving a two-year prison sentence for a Blockade of the Washington, DC clinic in 2020was sentenced to 8 months in prison on Friday. However, U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger allowed the sentence to be served concurrently with the sentence in DC.
She said she was indulgent, in part because of Idoni’s many good works. They include adopting orphans from Ukraine. But Idoni has a blind spot when it comes to abortion, Trauger said.
“She allowed her own personal views to cause emotional harm to other people with views she disagreed with,” Trauger said.
Both Idoni and Gallagher were convicted of obstructing access to the clinic and much more serious charge of federal conspiracy. In addition to incarceration, they were also sentenced to three years of supervised release.
Four others also convicted on conspiracy charges were sentenced in July to prison terms ranging from Six months in prison to three years of supervised releaseand three people each who had been convicted of crimes sentenced to three years probation.
Gallagher, Idoni and Eva Edl, along with their co-defendants, were not convicted in July as they prepared for a trial in Michigan on 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 blocking the Women’s Health Clinic in Saginaw. They were not convicted during the Michigan blockades.
On Thursday, Edl was placed on probation for three years due to the blockade of the clinic in Tennessee.
A Tennessee defendant, Caroline Davis, who pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in October and cooperated with prosecutors, was sentenced in April to three years of probation.
The 2021 blockade came nearly a year before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. 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 discovered.