Florida woman convicted in conspiracy targeting pro-life pregnancy resource centers

CNA Staff, Dec 20, 2024 / 17:30 pm (CNA).

A Florida woman was convicted on Thursday for conspiracy targeting pro-life pregnancy resource centers, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Friday. 

Gabriella Oropesa was convicted “for her role in a conspiracy to injure, oppress, threaten, or intimidate employees of pro-life pregnancy help centers in the free exercise of the right to provide and seek to provide reproductive health services,” read the Dec. 20 DOJ press release. 

Oropesa was convicted under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which has been used in the past to allegedly target pro-life activists for blocking clinic entrances. 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.” 

Many pro-life activists have been sentenced under the FACE Act in recent years, including several elderly people, a young mother, and a Catholic priest. House Republican lawmakers discussed repealing the FACE Act earlier this week after hearing testimony alleging the law has been weaponized against pro-life protesters.

Oropesa and three co-conspirators had vandalized pregnancy health centers that provided alternatives to abortion with threatening messages. Caleb Freestone, Amber Stewart-Smith, and Annarella Rivera previously pleaded guilty for their involvement.

The four had vandalized a series of pro-life pregnancy help centers in Florida, spray-painting threatening messages such as “If abortions aren’t safe than niether [sic] are you,” “YOUR TIME IS UP!!”, “WE’RE COMING for U,” and “We are everywhere.” 

“The Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act is clear: No one should have to face threats and intimidation just for doing their job,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said in a statement. 

“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,” Clarke continued. 

U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida reiterated that reproductive health clinic access is protected by federal law.  

“Federal law protects providers who render reproductive health care and those who seek their services,” Handberg said in a statement. “Threats of violence against pregnancy resource centers or those exercising their rights to care will not be tolerated.”

A sentence hearing is scheduled for March 19, 2025. Oropesa will face a maximum penalty of 10 years in prison for the conspiracy charge, according to the DOJ. 

The case involved investigation from the FBI’s Tampa field office as well as local police departments.  

At one pregnancy center in Hialeah, Florida, Heartbeat of Miami, the vandalism resulted in thousands of dollars in damages. The Archdiocese of Miami’s Hollywood pregnancy center and the South Broward Pregnancy Help Center, located just north of Miami, were also targeted. At South Broward, the words “Jane’s revenge” and an anarchist symbol were also graffitied on the property.

Source: https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/261181/florida-woman-convicted-in-conspiracy-targeting-pro-life-pregnancy-resource-centers