The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday announced arrests and indictments for abortion activists in connection with more than 250 attacks against churches and pregnancy centers, according to a report by LifeNews.
Two Florida residents were reportedly indicted by a federal grand jury in the Middle District of Florida for allegedly spray-painting violent threats on pregnancy centers providing women with alternatives to abortion.
The alleged criminals, 27-year old Caleb Freestone and 23-year old Amber Smith-Stewart, allegedly levied attacks on several pregnancy centers throughout the state of Florida.
At a location in Winter Haven, the two allegedly vandalized and spray-painted threats that included “If abortions aren’t safe than neither [sic] are you,” “YOUR TIME IS UP!!,” “WE’RE COMING for U,” and “We are everywhere.”
The indictment alleges that the two partook in similar attacks at pro-life facilities in Hollywood and Hialeah.
Pro-life pregnancy clinic firebombed in June of 2022 (CompassCare / Students for Life / JD Flynn / Twitter) (Composite)
Separate reports have found that Freestone and Smith-Stewart are members of Antifa and other leftist organizations, based on their social media accounts.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that Smith-Stewart described herself as “Antifa, anti-capitalist,” and “NON BINARY” on her Facebook profile. Freestone is reportedly affiliated with the leftist group Whatever It Takes, based on prior arrests for charges of disorderly conduct during a July 2022 school board meeting in Miami-Dade.
According to the indictment, Freestone and Smith-Stewart allegedly violated the 1994 FACE Act by issuing threats of force to intimidate and interfere with the employees of a reproductive health service facility and intentionally damaged and destroyed facility property.
If convicted, the left wing activists face a maximum penalty of 12 years in prison, in addition to three years of supervised release and up to $350,000 in fines.
The arrests come amidst a sharp increase of leftist violence against pro-life centers in the wake of the Supreme Court’s reversal of the controversial Roe v. Wade abortion decision, which largely began after a draft opinion written by Justice Samuel Alito was leaked and subsequently disseminated to mainstream news organizations ahead of the ruling.
The Supreme Court this week stated that it “has to date been unable to identify a person responsible” for leaking the draft opinion “by a preponderance of the evidence,” but noted that the now-eight month investigation is still ongoing.
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This news and commentary by Andrew White originally appeared on Valiant News.
