A federal jury convicted seven defendants Tuesday of federal civil rights offenses arising out of their blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Sterling Heights, Michigan, on Aug. 27, 2020, officials stated.
The defendants were each convicted of a felony conspiracy against rights and a Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act offense.
Two defendants were convicted of a second FACE Act offense arising out of a blockade of a reproductive health care clinic in Saginaw, Michigan.
“These defendants orchestrated an unlawful clinic blockade and physically obstructed patients seeking access to their doctors, without regard to the serious medical needs of the women they blocked from accessing reproductive health care,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
Adding, “These defendants intentionally broke the law. One woman’s fetus experienced fatal abnormalities and the defendants’ coordinated campaign of physical obstruction posed a grave and real threat to her health and fertility. Make no mistake: every American enjoys the right to obtain and provide reproductive health services free from physical obstruction, and the Justice Department will continue to hold accountable those that oppress the free exercise of that right. We thank the jury for the time, attention, and careful consideration of the facts of this case.”
Evidence presented at trial showed that Calvin Zastrow, Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Caroline Davis, Joel Curry, Justin Phillips, Eva Edl, and Eva Zastrow conspired to prevent clinic employees from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services, a civil right protected by the FACE Act.
They took part in the Calvin Zastrow-organized “Michigan Holiness Revival Tour” with the specific intention of obstructing a reproductive health clinic during the second week of the tour as part of this conspiracy.
During the blockade, the defendants physically blocked the clinic entrances, preventing patients and employees from entering.
The evidence also showed that they blocked a patient, S.S., who, along with her husband, had made an appointment after learning their fetus had fatal abnormalities.
Continuing the pregnancy posed serious risks to S.S.’s health and fertility, but the defendants obstructed her from receiving the necessary care.
Additionally, Calvin and Eva Zastrow were found to have followed a clinic employee around the building to stop her from using an emergency exit.
At the same time, Gallagher and Edl attempted to delay the Sterling Heights Police to prolong the blockade.
The defendants were found guilty of violating the FACE Act by physically obstructing the clinic’s operations.
Further evidence showed that on April 16, 2021, Edl and Idoni obstructed access to a second clinic in Saginaw, Michigan.
Edl blocked one entrance by sitting in front of it with a doorstop wedged under the door, preventing it from opening from the inside, while Idoni chained herself to another door using a bicycle lock.
Their actions violated the FACE Act by obstructing the clinic’s employees and patients from accessing reproductive health services
The FBI’s Detroit Field Office and Bay City Resident Agency investigated the case.
Trial Attorney Laura-Kate Bernstein of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorneys Frances Carlson and Sunita Doddamani for the Eastern District of Michigan are prosecuting the case.