BOWLING GREEN, Ohio (LifeSiteNews) — A young woman has pleaded guilty to a federal misdemeanor charge, admitting that she vandalized a pro-life pregnancy center in Ohio.
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) announced in a December 8 press release that 20-year-old Whitney Durant “pleaded guilty today to a misdemeanor charge under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act, which prohibits a person from intentionally damaging or destroying the property of a facility because that facility provides reproductive health services.”
Durant’s plea conceded that she “intentionally damaged the property of HerChoice,” a pregnancy resource center in Bowling Green, Ohio, on April 15, 2023. Citing court documents, the DOJ release notes that the crime was committed “by defacing the clinic’s building, spray painting the words, ‘LIARS,’ ‘Fund Abortion,’ ‘Abort God,’ and ‘Jane’s Revenge.’” At the time, Durant was enrolled at Bowling Green State University.
Durant is scheduled to be sentenced on April 9, 2024. She “faces a maximum penalty of one year in prison for the misdemeanor charge.”
Federal officials involved in the case backed the charges, with U.S. Attorney Rebecca Lutzko for the Northern District of Ohio stating that all facilities that provide what she called “reproductive health services” are protected under the FACE Act. The pro-life mission of HerChoice “did not give the defendant license to deface the clinic’s property in protest, violating federal law in the process” simply because the center “did not provide abortion.”
Special Agent in Charge for the Cleveland Field Office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Greg Nelsen further described Durant’s vandalism as “cross[ing] a line” that is not protected as the “constitutional right to peacefully protest” designated in the First Amendment.
Nelsen also said that the FBI “will continue to aggressively investigate FACE Act violations and protect every American’s access to reproductive health care services.”
READ: Pro-life Catholic dad Mark Houck and family sue Biden DOJ for FBI raid, federal prosecution
On July 5, Durant – who uses the name “Soren Monroe” and is a self-described “communist trying to spread the gay agenda” – was charged with the FACE Act misdemeanor. LifeSiteNews reported at the time that a female dressed in a hat and surgical mask could be seen on security footage just before 3:30 a.m. on April 15. Days after the charges were issued, Durant pleaded not guilty.
The Biden administration’s DOJ has been heavily criticized in the aftermath of the historic overturning of Roe v. Wade due to its lack of attention to the long list of pro-life pregnancy centers attacked by abortion activists. Many of these crimes were claimed by the abortion extremist group Jane’s Revenge.
Instead of making visible progress on these cases, however, the DOJ sparked outrage by targeting pro-lifers instead. Notably, the FBI raided, arrested, and charged sidewalk counselor Mark Houck on alleged violations of the FACE Act. The Catholic author and father was acquitted of all charges in January.
Several months after the rampant attacks against pro-life centers, a federal grand jury indicted two pro-abortion activists in Florida on suspicion of vandalizing multiple pregnancy resource centers. The following April, two more individuals were charged under the same suspicion that they were targeting pro-life centers in the state of Florida.
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