Jonathan Darnel, one of three pro-life protestors convicted of violating the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances (FACE) Act last week, said that “it’s an honor to be taken like so many others.”
“FACE is a crime, but it shouldn’t be a crime because abortion shouldn’t be tolerated,” he said in an interview with Catholic News Agency (CNA). “Except for the unjust execution of Christ, abortion is the worst thing that’s ever happened in the history of the world.”
Darnel said he lives in “a nation that murders kids” and attributed his 14-year “quasi-full time” pro-life work to his evangelical Christian faith. “How can I say I love Christ and not respond with extreme zeal, extreme action, and drastic measures to this holocaust?”
CNA’s Joe Bukuras reported that Darnel and two co-defendants, both women in their 70s, were “charged with a felony conspiracy against rights and a FACE Act offense” and now face “up to 11 years in prison, three years of supervised release, and a $350,000 maximum fine.”
The Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) claimed the three protestors took part in a “conspiracy to create a blockade” at an abortion facility “to prevent the clinic from providing, and patients from receiving, reproductive health services.” Lauren Handy and four others were convicted last month after the Biden administration charged them in connection with the same incident.
Darnel filmed the protest he participated in alongside Handy and the other convicted activists. The demonstration took place at a notorious Washington, D.C. abortion facility run by serial partial-birth abortionist Cesare Santangelo. The facility prided itself on performing abortions at “27-plus weeks of pregnancy.”
Per CatholicVote’s previous reporting, Santangelo “was nicknamed ‘The Butcher of D.C.’ after his practice was found to have killed five viable unborn children.” Santangelo has also been accused of selling the remains of aborted babies to an energy company, and once admitted on camera that he would leave a child born alive after a botched abortion to die of exposure.
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Again from Bukuras:
Darnel said he filmed the protest that day because he wanted to inspire people to “get more serious about abortion,” adding that a “rescue” is one way to do that.
Asked if one can continue pro-life ministry in prison, Darnel said: “You certainly can.”
Earlier this week, Congressman Chip Roy, R-TX, introduced a bill to repeal the FACE Act.
According to The Daily Signal, “The act protects both abortion clinics and pro-life pregnancy centers, but the DOJ has widely used it to charge pro-life activists with FACE violations since the Supreme Court’s June 2022 overturn of Roe v. Wade.”
Read the full interview with Jonathan Darnel here.
LifeNews Note: Joshua Mercer writes for CatholicVote, where this column originally appeared.
