Florida woman convicted of targeting pro-life pregnancy care centers
A Florida woman has been convicted for her involvement in efforts to vandalize and threaten pro-life pregnancy care centers in 2022.
Gabriella Oropesa of Cooper City was convicted last Thursday for her part in a conspiracy against employees of pro-life pregnancy centers, according to a statement issued by the United States Department of Justice.
Caleb Freestone, Amber Stewart-Smith and Annarella Rivera had all previously pleaded guilty for their participation in this conspiracy.
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The conspirators were prosecuted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, a controversial federal law often used to prosecute pro-life activists who protest at abortion clinics.
"The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is clear: no one should have to face threats and intimidation just for doing their job," said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ's Civil Rights Division.
"The Justice Department will continue to ensure access to the full spectrum of reproductive health services afforded to the public, whether those services include abortion or counseling on alternatives to abortion."
Oropesa's sentencing hearing is scheduled for March 19, 2025, and faces as much as 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Tampa Field Office investigated the case, receiving assistance from the Polk County Sheriff's Office and also the Winter Haven, Hialeah and Hollywood Police Departments.
In 2022, a wave of attacks on churches and pro-life pregnancy centers occurred in response to the leaking of a U.S. Supreme Court decision that indicated that the high court would overturn Roe v. Wade, the polarizing 1973 decision that established abortion as a constitutional right.
On July 3, 2022, weeks after the Supreme Court struck down Roe, Freestone and Smith-Stewart vandalized the Heartbeat of Miami Pregnancy Medical Help Clinic in Hialeah. Message spray painted on the property included "If abortions aren't safe [then] neither are you" and vowed that "our rage will not stop."
Oropesa, Freestone, Smith-Stewart and Rivera would engage in additional attacks and threats against pro-life care centers in Florida, being tied to the June 26, 2022, vandalism of a Winter Haven-based pro-life pregnancy center, which including graffiti stating "YOUR TIME IS UP!!" "WE'RE COMING FOR U" and "We are everywhere."
Last year, the individuals were arrested and charged for their actions, with Freestone, Smith-Stewart and Rivera pleading guilty in June.
The FACE Act was passed by Congress and signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994, with the legislation coming in response to an uptick in violence against abortion providers.
"We simply cannot — we must not — continue to allow the attacks, the incidents of arson, the campaigns of intimidation upon law-abiding citizens that has given rise to this law," stated Clinton at the time, as quoted by The New York Times.
"No person seeking medical care, no physician providing that care should have to endure harassments or threats or obstruction or intimidation or even murder from vigilantes who take the law into their own hands because they think they know what the law ought to be."
Many Republicans and conservatives have argued that the FACE Act has been used to unfairly target protests at abortion clinics and engage in "lawfare" against pro-life activists.
In September of last year, U.S. Rep. Chip Roy of Texas introduced a bill to repeal the FACE Act, saying in an announcement from the time that the federal law targets abortion opponents.
"Biden's Department of Justice has brazenly weaponized the FACE Act against normal, everyday Americans across the political spectrum, simply because they are pro-life," stated Roy.
"Our Constitution separates power between the federal government and the states for a reason, and we ignore that safeguard at our own peril. The FACE Act is an unconstitutional federal takeover of state police powers; it must be repealed."
