Activist sentenced for blocking abortion clinic entry, threatening staff, not for praying

Did Vice President Kamala Harris sentence a woman to three years in prison just for praying?

No, but that’s what a viral video on Instagram said. "This woman, all she did was pray in front of an abortion clinic and she’s getting three years! It’s ridiculous!" a woman exclaimed at the start of the clip.

The video then switched to show the woman in question, Bevelyn Beatty Williams, who says, "Y’all have to vote. Y’all cannot let Kamala get in. That’s Kamala’s administration. That woman who sentenced me, that’s Kamala’s administration."

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Williams was convicted in February after a jury unanimously found her guilty of violating a federal law by physically obstructing access to a Manhattan abortion clinic and threatening patients and workers. She was sentenced in Manhattan by U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon. 

Williams faced no charges related to prayer, which is protected by the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

PolitiFact found no evidence that Harris was involved in Williams’ case.

The U.S. Justice Department in July announced that Williams had been sentenced to 41 months in prison for violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act, or the FACE Act, for her actions at a lower Manhattan Planned Parenthood clinic in June 2020. 

On June 19 and June 20, Williams threatened and used force against patients and staff members at the clinic and blocked them from accessing the building, the Justice Department said in its  press release. 

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In one instance captured on video, Williams pressed her body against the clinic’s entry door and refused to move, preventing a volunteer from getting in. When a staff member tried to open the door, Williams leaned against it, crushing and injuring the staff member’s hand, the release said.

Government officials say Williams blocked the clinic’s entrance multiple times over the two days, and moved to block the staff entrance when patients were diverted there. She livestreamed her demonstrations on social media, which showed her inches away from the clinic’s chief administrative officer, threatening to "terrorize this place." She also threatened "war" to a security officer, the department said, and said she would act by "any means necessary."

Prosecutors said Williams behaved similarly at other health clinics across the country, including in Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, and Brooklyn, New York, from 2019 to 2022.

For example, in January 2022, Williams’ directed people to block entrances of a Fort Myers, Florida, clinic and delayed staff from treating at least a dozen patients, three of whom were scheduled for time-sensitive procedures that without timely treatment could have resulted in bleeding and infection, the Justice Department said.  

Although Harris was vice president when Williams was sentenced, there is no evidence she was involved in the case or the decision.

Presidents are involved in appointing judges and attorneys — President Joe Biden nominated Damian Williams, the attorney in Williams’ case, in August 2021. But this claim ignores the practice of federal prosecutorial independence, which derives from the principle that all three branches of government must act independently. This includes the Justice Department’s independence from any White House involvement in individual cases and investigations. 

The FACE Act, which former President Bill Clinton signed into law in 1994, prohibits violent, threatening, damaging and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services. The law doesn’t prohibit "expressive conduct," including peaceful demonstration, which is protected by the First Amendment.

We rate this claim False.

RELATED: Activist sentenced for blocking Washington, D.C., abortion clinic's entry, not for handing out roses