Paula Paulette Harlow, Civil Rights Conspiracy, Washington DC, 2024

WASHINGTON – A notorious figure in the world of anti-abortion activism, Paula Paulette Harlow, 75, of Kingston, Massachusetts, has been sentenced to 24 months in prison for her role in a conspiracy that created a blockade at a Washington, D.C. reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.

The announcement was made by U.S. Attorney Matthew M. Graves, Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division, and FBI Special Agent in Charge David J. Scott of the Washington Field Office’s Criminal and Cyber Division.

Harlow is the 10th member of the conspiracy to be sentenced on charges of civil rights conspiracy and Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act violations. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly sentenced eight other members of the conspiracy.

Another of the defendants, the only one to plead guilty, Jay Smith, 34, of Freeport, New York, was sentenced to 10 months in prison and three years of supervised release in March 2023.

As the evidence at trial showed, the defendants engaged in a conspiracy to create a blockade at the reproductive health care clinic to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services. As part of the conspiracy, many of the defendants traveled to Washington, D.C. from various northeast and midwestern states, to meet with Lauren Handy and participate in a clinic blockade that was directed by Handy and was broadcast on Facebook.

According to the evidence, on October 22, 2020, Handy – along with her co-conspirators Jonathan Darnel, John Hinshaw, William Goodman, Jean Marshall, Joan Bell, Herb Geraghty, Heather Idoni, and Paula Harlow, among others – forcefully entered the clinic and set about blockading two clinic doors using their bodies, furniture, chains, and ropes. Once the blockade was established, they live-streamed their activities. The evidence also showed that the defendants violated the FACE Act by using a physical obstruction to injure, intimidate and interfere with the clinic’s employees and a patient, because they were providing or obtaining reproductive health services.

With this latest sentencing, the masterminds behind this violent and oppressive act are finally receiving the punishment they deserve. The people of Washington D.C. can rest a little easier knowing that those responsible for this heinous crime are behind bars.

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