Pro-life activists face more than a decade in prison after being convicted on Tuesday by the Biden administration's Department of Justice for allegedly violating a federal law. However, attorneys for the convicted activists are expected to appeal the decision, arguing that the pro-life demonstrators were participating in a "peaceful life-affirming gathering."

After a six-day federal trial, six defendants were found guilty of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act by a federal jury in Nashville, Tennessee. The defendants — Chester Gallagher, Heather Idoni, Calvin Zastrow, Coleman Boyd, Paul Vaughn, and Dennis Green — face a maximum of 10.5 years in prison and fines of up to $260,000.

The U.S. Department of Justice declared in a press release that the six defendants "engaged in a conspiracy to prevent the clinic employees from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services, a civil right secured by the FACE Act."

The FACE Act was signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994 as a "response to an increase in violence toward providers and patients of reproductive health services," according to the DOJ. The FACE Act prohibits "violent, threatening, damaging, and obstructive conduct intended to injure, intimidate, or interfere with the right to seek, obtain or provide reproductive health services."

Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said this week, "These defendants are being held accountable for unlawfully obstructing access to reproductive health services. The Justice Department will continue to enforce the FACE Act to protect the rights of those who provide and those who seek access to such services."

U.S. Attorney Henry C. Leventis for the Middle District of Tennessee added, "These defendants knowingly chose to violate laws they disagreed with. The jury’s verdict today is a victory for the rule of law in this country and a reminder that we cannot pick and choose which laws we follow. It is also a testament to the outstanding work done in this case by the trial team and our law enforcement partners."

The FBI Memphis Field Office, Nashville Resident Agency investigated the case.

Pro-life activists staged a protest in March 2021 inside the Carafem abortion clinic in Mount Juliet, Tennessee.

As Blaze News previously reported, a 29-minute video shows the pro-life protesters lining the walls of the abortion clinic as they sang and prayed.

Officers with the Mount Juliet Police Department requested that the protesters to leave the clinic and noted that they could continue the demonstration outside the building.

After a brief negotiation with a pastor who spoke for the pro-life group, police gave the protesters five minutes to vacate the premises. Some of the protesters left, but a handful continued to stay inside the abortion clinic.

Several of the pro-life participants were arrested by local police and were later released after posting bail for misdemeanor trespassing charges.

The Thomas More Society described the incident as a "peaceful life-affirming gathering."

Steve Crampton — a lawyer with the Thomas More Society and an attorney for Paul Vaughn — said in a press release, "We are, of course, disappointed with the outcome. This was a peaceful demonstration by entirely peaceable citizens — filled with prayer, hymn-singing, and worship — oriented toward persuading expecting mothers not to abort their babies."

Crampton added, "Unfortunately, the Biden Department of Justice decided to characterize Paul Vaughn’s peaceful actions as a felony ‘conspiracy against rights,’ to intimidate and punish Paul and other pro-life people and people of faith."

The Thomas More Society said attorneys representing Vaughn are "expected to announce that they will appeal the conviction."

The convicted pro-life demonstrators are scheduled to have their sentencing hearing on July 2.

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