CNA Staff, Jul 25, 2024 / 17:50 pm
A Manhattan federal court sentenced Bevelyn Beatty Williams, a 33-year-old pro-life activist, to three years and five months in prison July 24 for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act.
Williams was convicted of “interference, including by threats and force, with individuals seeking to obtain and provide” abortions, according to the Department of Justice. The wife and mother was sentenced after preaching the Gospel outside an abortion clinic and allegedly injuring a clinic worker’s hand and blocking the entrance.
“I was persecuted as a Christian standing for my beliefs when it comes to life,” read a statement from Williams on her fundraising page. “This is devastating news. Not only is this bond extensive for the accused crime, but she made it very clear in the courtroom that she was going to make an example out of me.”
A Department of Justice July 24 press release detailed that Williams leaned against the clinic door, blocking a clinic worker from entering, and trapping another worker’s hand inside the door.
The release noted that according to a livestream on social media posted by Williams, she “stood within inches of the Health Center’s chief administrative officer and threatened to ‘terrorize this place’ and warned that ‘we’re gonna terrorize you so good, your business is gonna be over mama.’”
Williams, who has a 2-year-old daughter, intends to appeal the decision.
“The concern of being a young mother, and a stay-at-home mother, was completely disregarded,” Williams continued.
“She told me before sentencing me that I was young and that I would not be defined by my sentence, before making a conscious decision to take me away from my 2-year-old daughter for three years,” Williams said of the judge. “I have 60 days to appeal my case and fight for my freedom and I need as much help as I can get!”
Williams, born in Staten Island, New York, had her first abortion at the age of 15 after she dropped out of high school, according to her ministry website At Well Ministries. She later went on to have two more abortions and went down a “self-destructive” path of drugs and drinking.
After she was arrested for money laundering, she had a conversion experience and “upon her release moved forward with the determination to choose a new path.” She co-founded At Well Ministries, which specializes in street ministry and ministry to the homeless, and she later made a shift toward pro-life activism.
Williams is one of many pro-life activists who have been sentenced under the FACE Act in recent years, including several elderly people and a Catholic priest.
