A 33-year-old young mother and pro-life activist was sentenced to three years and five months in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE).
According to the Justice Department, Bevelyn Beatty Williams was convicted of “interfering, including with threats and force, with persons attempting to obtain and provide” abortions.
This wife and mother were sentenced after preaching the Gospel outside an abortion clinic for allegedly injuring a clinic worker’s hand and blocking the entrance.
“I was persecuted as a Christian for standing up for my beliefs when it comes to life,” read a statement from Williams posted on her fundraising page. “This is devastating news. Not only is this bail lengthy for the crime charged, but she [the judge] made it very clear in the courtroom that she would make an example of me.”
A July 24 Justice Department press release detailed that Williams leaned against the clinic door, blocking one clinic worker from entering and crushing another’s hand in the door.
The statement said that according to a live stream on social media posted by Williams, she “stood just inches away from the health centre’s administrative director and threatened to ‘terrorize this place’ and warned that ‘we are going to terrorize you so much that your business is going to be shut down. ’”
“The concerns of being a young, stay-at-home mother were completely ignored,” Williams continued.
“Before sentencing me, she told me I was young and that I would not be defined by my conviction, before making a conscious decision to stay 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 all the help I can get!” he stressed.
Born in Staten Island, New York, Williams had her first abortion at age 15, after dropping out of high school, according to her ministry At Well Ministrie ‘s website. She subsequently had two more abortions and followed a “self-destructive” path of drugs and alcohol.
After being arrested for money laundering, she had a conversion experience and “upon her release, she moved forward with the determination to choose a new path.” She co-founded At Well Ministries, which specializes in street and homeless ministry, and later turned to pro-life activism.
Williams is one of several pro-life activists who have been convicted under the FACE Act in recent years, including several seniors and a Catholic priest.