A group of anti-abortion protestors face felony charges for trying to block patients from entering a Mt. Juliet abortion clinic last year. The indictment, unsealed Wednesday, alleges that the 11 protestors met and organized over social media, before staging a blockade at the carafem health clinic.
These charges under the “Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act” are separate from this year’s restraining order issued against protesters led by Jason Storms of Wisconsin. In late July, dozens of protesters threatened to enter the facility, claiming it was violating abortion law at the time.
The charges announced this week are related to protests on March 5, 2021. The group is accused of using force to “injure, intimidate and interfere” with employees and a patient who was seeking reproductive health services. The 2021 blockade came more than a year before the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade.
A Lebanon man, Chester Gallagher, 73, is accused of being the ring leader, but most others came from out of state. If convicted, they face up to 11 years in prison and fines up to $250,000.
The carafem clinic has since stopped performing abortions under Tennessee’s all-out ban, though it was one of the last clinics still offering medication abortions until the state’s trigger ban took effect in August.
WPLN’s Blake Farmer contributed to this report.
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