The FBI raided the home of yet another pro-life activist on Wednesday, as the federal agency ramps up its attacks on political opponents of the Biden regime. With guns drawn, agents swarmed and entered Chester (Chet) Gallagher’s Tennessee home for his role in a peaceful pro-life event that took place over a year ago outside a Mt. Juliet, Tennessee abortion facility.
Gallagher was out of state when armed agents raided his home last night, but the FBI entered his home and interrogated his neighbors, according to Live Action. Just like pro-life activist Mark Houck, who was arrested by agents less than a month ago, Gallagher is being charged with committing FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act violations.
The charges are related to a pro-life event Gallagher orchestrated on March 5, 2021. Gallagher and other pro-lifers lined the inside hallway of a medical building that houses multiple offices, including the Carafem abortion facility, and peacefully tried to convince mothers seeking an abortion to choose life.
“The rescuers who were gathered that day prayed and sang, and the event was nonviolent,” reports Live Action. Local police arrested several pro-lifers on misdemeanor trespass charges, and they were later released after posting bail.
While Gallagher was the only participant in the pro-life “rescue” treated to a full-fledged FBI raid, others who were part of the Mt. Juliet event were ordered to report to their local authorities for charges under the federal FACE (Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances) Act as well as charges of civil rights conspiracy.
A Wednesday DOJ press release named seven individuals, including Gallagher, who are being charged “with conspiracy against rights secured by the FACE Act, and committing FACE Act violations.” Another four individuals are being charged with only FACE Act violations. “All defendants will have appearances scheduled in U.S. District Court in Nashville at a later date,” stated the DOJ.
The press release details how Gallagher “utilized social media to promote a series of anti-abortion events scheduled for March 4-7, 2021, in the Nashville area.” Then, Gallagher’s “co-conspirators” “utilized Facebook to coordinate travel and logistics and to identify other participants for the blockade.”
The DOJ alleges that participants “blocked the clinic’s entry doors and prevented a patient and an employee from entering” and that a livestream of the event showed rescue participants “attempting to engage a patient and her companion.”
If convicted, the seven conspiracy defendants face a maximum of 11 years in prison and fines of up to $250,000, according to the DOJ. The remaining four defendants face up to a year in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
The Federalist reached out to Tennessee’s Republican Governor Bill Lee and Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti, asking what protections they plan to offer citizens in their state targeted by the Biden administration for their First Amendment-protected actions. Neither responded.
This is the second case in recent weeks of the FBI raiding the home of a pro-life activist under the purview of Biden-appointed Attorney General Merrick Garland. Catholic father of seven Mark Houck was arrested by what his wife described as a swarm of 25 to 30 FBI agents — also for alleged “FACE Act” violations — at his home on Sept. 29, while his traumatized children looked on “screaming.”
Mark’s alleged “crime” was protecting his son from an aggressive Planned Parenthood escort in downtown Philadelphia. Houck shoved the pro-abortion man, who was verbally harassing his son and entering his personal space. The pro-abortion man had no injuries from being pushed, according to Houck’s wife, but he tried to sue Houck anyway. The case was subsequently thrown out of the district court in Philadelphia earlier this year.
Apparently the feds didn’t like Houck going unpunished, and a grand jury charged Houck with “verbally confront[ing the pro-abortion man] and forcefully shov[ing him] to the ground in front of the [Planned Parenthood Center], causing injuries … that required medical attention.” A spokesman for the Houck family said that the “medical attention” was simply “a Band-Aid on his finger.”
Houck faces a maximum possible sentence of 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and fines of up to $350,000. A GiveSendGo page created to support Houck and his family is collecting donations.
While the FBI has been raiding and arresting pro-life activists, pro-abortion vandals and terrorists who spent months wrecking and firebombing dozens of pro-life pregnancy centers and churches following the overturn of Roe v. Wade have been seemingly given a free pass by the FBI.
“It took a month and a half and a pressure campaign from concerned congressional leaders and senators to get the FBI to even say it was ‘investigating’ these attacks,” reports The Federalist’s Elle Reynolds, noting that “we have yet to see any SWAT-style raids like what the Houcks endured levied at firebombers whose criminal behavior advanced the regime’s agenda.”
CompassCare Pregnancy Services is a Buffalo, New York pro-life pregnancy center that was firebombed in early June. CompassCare provided local police and the FBI with surveillance footage after the attack with hopes that the criminals responsible would be brought to justice.
Jane’s Revenge, a pro-abortion terrorist group, admitted in a public memorandum that they are responsible for the firebombing. However, according to CompassCare’s president and CEO Reverend James Harden, no arrests have been made.
When CompassCare asked for their footage back because law enforcement was not making progress in investigating the attack, let alone charging or arresting those responsible, the FBI and local police refused. Tucker Carlson reported in an interview with Harden that the attorney for the local police told the crisis pregnancy center they could not have their own tapes back because it might “inspire right-wing violence.”
“The FBI has gone from abdicating their duty to provide equal justice under the law to pro-life people like us,” said Harden during the interview, “to downright attacking us.” Indeed, Biden’s DOJ is using Gestapo-like force to crack down on pro-lifers like Gallagher and Houck, while pro-abortion terrorists get off scot-free.
