By Joe Bukuras
Boston, Mass., Apr 4, 2023 / 16:42 pm
Two more individuals have been indicted for violating the federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act in connection with a string of pro-abortion attacks against pro-life pregnancy centers in Florida.
The FACE Act prohibits “violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain, or provide reproductive health services.”
Earlier this year, the Department of Justice brought FACE Act charges against two Floridians, 27-year-old Caleb Freestone and 23-year-old Amber Smith-Stewart, for spray-painting threats on a pro-life clinic in Winter Haven, Florida; an archdiocesan pro-life pregnancy center in Hollywood, Florida; and one of Heartbeat of Miami’s pro-life pregnancy centers in Hialeah, Florida.
Those arrests were the first two reported law enforcement successes against any of the now 60 recorded attacks on American pro-life pregnancy centers. The attacks were part of a wave of extreme pro-abortion violence following a May 2022 report that the Supreme Court would overturn Roe v. Wade. With the new indictment, law enforcement has now brought charges against a total of five people in connection with the attacks against pregnancy centers.
The March 22 indictment alleges that Gabriella Oropesa and Annarella Rivera, along with Freestone and Smith Stewart, spray-painted threats on the Archdiocese of Miami’s Hollywood pregnancy center including the message, “If abortions aren’t safe then niether [sic] are you.”
The words “Janes revenge,” and an anarchist symbol were also written outside the South Broward Pregnancy Help Center, located about 45 minutes north of Miami.
“Jane’s Revenge” became a calling card of sorts for dozens of pro-abortion vandals after the May leak from the Supreme Court.
The indictment also alleges that Rivera, Freestone, Smith-Stewart, and “conspirators” vandalized the clinic in Winter Haven by spray-painting “YOUR TIME IS UP!!”, “WE’RE COMING for YOU” and “We are everywhere.”
The words “Janes revenge,” and “Jane was here” were also spray-painted on the clinic.
The indictment further alleges that Freestone, Oropesa, and “conspirators” spray-painted “If abortions aren’t safe the [sic] neither are you” on the clinic in Hialeah.
Additionally, all four defendants face charges of engaging in a “conspiracy against rights” for attempting to prevent employees at pro-life pregnancy centers from providing services, the indictment says.
Rivera, Freestone, and Smith-Stewart could face 12 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $350,000. Oropesa could face 10 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a maximum fine of $250,000.
