Washington, D.C. – An anti-abortion activist was sentenced to two years incarceration in D.C. federal court Friday, marking the final sentencing among nine others charged in a 2020 blockade at a reproductive health clinic.
U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly emphasized during the nearly two-hour hearing that the case against Paula Paulette Harlow, 75, was focused on her actions, not her religious or political beliefs.
“This is not an abortion case,” Judge Kollar-Kotelly stated. “It’s a civil rights case.”
Judge Kollar-Kotelly asserted that the blockade was neither peaceful nor nonviolent. She noted that Harlow was aware of the possibility of arrest when she participated in the October 2020 blockade at the Washington Surgi-clinic.
According to court filings, Harlow entered the clinic with a bike lock around her neck and shoved a clinic employee. Prosecutors detailed that she then chained herself to a co-conspirator to block access to the treatment area and refused to unlock herself when police arrived, necessitating officers to cut off the bike lock.
